PROPOSED LAW ALLOWS PARENTS TO SEND DRUG-ADDICTED KIDS INTO TREATMENT

RED DEER, Alta. - Parents should be allowed to put their
drug-addicted teenagers in treatment facilities -- even if it's
against a teen's wishes, says a central Alberta politician.

Mary Anne Jablonski, a Progressive Conservative who represents Red
Deer North in the legislature, says she will present a private
member's bill later this year that would give parents that right. "It
actually helps the families to make a decision and to help their
children, who are addicted, to get back to leading more normal lives,"
she said of the bill.

Jablonski also said she will press for more rehabilitation facilities
for teenagers.

"That's the next step that I plan to take . . . to advocate for more
treatment centres here in central Alberta and throughout Alberta. It's
a definite that we don't have enough treatment centres for our youth
and I think that we have an epidemic of drug use."

It's expected her private member's bill will be heard in the
legislature this spring.