HELPING OUR YOUNG PEOPLE BEAT ADDICTION

Adults who want to deal with substance abuse problems have a range of
options that should also be available to youth.

Fires are easiest to fight when they are small. Similarly, a substance
abuse problem is better dealt with at its onset than after it has
developed into a life-crippling addiction.

If governments are serious about the health and well-being of our
young people, about reducing crime and about helping families in
crisis, then government must take a more comprehensive approach to
helping young people deal with addictions.

In the legislature this month, Health Minister Chester Gillan said as
much as 10 per cent of P.E.I.'s youth are dealing with a substance
abuse problem. That means hundreds, perhaps thousands, of teens and
pre-teens are starting to develop drug or alcohol difficulties that
could follow them for years.

Government hasn't been ignoring the troubling combination of young
people and addictions. They have a menu of approaches that range from
peer counselling and in-school interventions all the way to the
Portage residential treatment program that requires a teen to travel
for a stay in New Brunswick.

What we don't have -- so far, anyway -- is a way to offer an intensive
treatment package to teens who need a local answer.

Aside from a couple of emergency beds at the Mount Herbert facility,
there's no place in the province where a teen can go to dry out or
have someone coach him or her through the sometimes agonizing process
of cleaning up.

When it comes to treating adults, we have a variety of approaches that
range from 12-step programs and support groups all the way up to
lengthy in-house stays.

For some people, this period of pulling back from the wider world is
necessary for their health. There are addicts who cannot manage to
separate themselves from drugs and drink when those poisons are still
very available. For some, the very act of withdrawing from family,
career and social obligations can be a necessary therapeutic step.

Why is that range of options not available to our teens?

The time has come for the health system to make some space available
- -- in a hospital, a youth facility or a sheltered home environment --
for young people to pull back from the world and go through the
withdrawal process. We don't have to start by spending a fortune on a
new building; we could designate some available space and some
dedicated staff to tackling this problem.

Teens who fall seriously into an addiction problem can look forward to
lives marked by educational failure, poverty, poor health and strained
relationships. Teens who can gain some control over their abuse while
still young can't expect perfect lives, but they can aspire to things
greater and more lasting than the next high.

If government can help young people make that difference, it must do
so.