YOUNG FOOTBALLER'S FIGHT TO KICK DRUGS AN INSPIRATION TO ALL

Lower Mainland civic leaders, health professionals and social workers
appear to spend a lot of time and money these days attending to the
daily needs of drug users -- whether through taxpayer-financed
social-housing initiatives or such "harm-reduction" measures as needle
exchanges and safe-injection sites.

But sadly they seem to allocate far fewer resources to abstinence
programs and other projects that encourage the drug-addicted actually
to kick their habit and lead drug-free lives.

That is why it was refreshing to read sports writer Howard Tsumura's
compelling story in yesterday's Province about a New Westminster
high-school football star who turned his life around after finding
himself drug-addicted and homeless at the age of 14.

Yes, four years ago, 18-year-old Jared Read's life was such a mess
that he was kicked out of the family home by his father, Ken --
himself a recovering addict.

Less than two weeks after he was shown the door, Jared entered a youth
detox centre. And two weeks after that, he spent six months at the
tough-minded Last Door youth residential treatment centre, where he
learned how to live a drug-free life. Now he is an honour-role student
contemplating a future at UBC law school.

What is clear from Jared's tale is that drug addiction is hard to
beat, even for a young teen.

But it can be beaten with tough love -- and the help of those
determined to get people off drugs, not enable them to remain on them
forever.