TWO-YEAR-OLD TESTS POSITIVE FOR COCAINE INTOXICATION

An addiction counsellor in Quesnel -- where a two-year-old tested
positive for cocaine intoxication -- says he's shocked by the news.

"I've never seen a child like this," Jim Edgar, a counsellor at the
Quesnel Tillicum Society Native Friendship Centre, said yesterday. "I
know there is some cocaine use in the area and I do have some clients
with cocaine addiction issues. But cocaine or crack [cocaine] is a
pretty pricey drug to get into. Alcohol would be the No. 1 [most
prevalent source of substance abuse among adults] here."

Quesnel RCMP were called to the G.R. Baker Hospital just before
midnight on Sunday after receiving reports of a mother and her child
suffering from cocaine intoxication.

The child was apprehended by the Ministry for Children and Family
Development and placed in foster care pending the outcome of a
ministry investigation.

RCMP said both parents are residents of Quesnel and are known to
police, but their identities are being withheld to protect the
identity of the child.

"Substance abuse has been identified by the residents of Quesnel as
one of the most serious problems that the community is facing," Sgt.
Gary Clark-Marlow said in a news release.

Debra Kent, program supervisor at the B.C. Drug and Poison Information
Centre at Vancouver's St. Paul's Hospital, said it's rare for a young
child to test positive for cocaine.

"It's really, really uncommon," Kent said. "We get more calls from
adults who are intoxicated themselves."