YOUTH ADDICTION ADDRESSED

Youth forced into detox facilities by their parents under new
legislation commonly suffer the same addictions as adults, AADAC
officials say. The Protection of Children Abusing Substances Act
(PChAD) became law in June. It allows parents and guardians of youth
to apply for a court order to place teens between 13 and 18 years of
age in five-day detoxification programs at safe house locations around
Alberta.

In less than five months, 173 youth have been admitted. Intake data
provided by youths indicate they suffer multiple drug dependencies,
with the substances most commonly used being alcohol (97 per cent
report using in the last 12 months), marijuana (93 per cent) and
tobacco (92 per cent).

More telling, perhaps, is youths' self reports on drug usage they
perceive as "of concern"

Only 17 per cent identified their alcohol intake as concerning. The
same percentage reported cocaine use as problematic. In addition, 15
per cent identified psychedelic drugs, 14 per cent marijuana and just
three per cent said their level of crystal meth use is a problem.

Like adults, it would appear denial is commonplace among teens when
they arrive at detox.

Addictions experts state quantity and frequency of use is essential to
understanding addiction, as drug tolerance increases the amount being
inhaled, drank or injected, heightening dependency and creating a
myriad of negative side effects.

Youth do not report their frequency of drug use when entering the
PChAD program.

Calgary-based Tom Mountain heads up AADAC's role in
PChAD.

The five-day program has three objectives, he says: providing safe,
secure detoxification, having youth make an assessment of the negative
effects of drugs on their lifestyle, then referral to community-based
AADAC programs for ongoing treatment.

"Our goal is to get young people we would otherwise never see at all
and let them know that counseling and treatment for drug use is not
scary, it's not humiliating, it's not uncomfortable," Mountain says.

Critics point out change must be internally motivated, and having
parents essentially jail youth to quit an addiction they may not be
ready to relinquish is unlikely to succeed, especially in five days.

Fort Macleod-based neurologist Dr. Bill Tatton is a supporter of any
effort to wean youth off drugs.

Tatton has extensive experience treating meth addicts.

While only three per cent of youth report problematic meth use,
under-reporting and minimizing is a classic addiction hallmark.

What can counselors accomplish in five days with meth
addicts?

"Well, not a lot," Tatton says. "It's a good thing the kids can't run
away any more, but the five days is too short. It's not enough."

That's because meth users can experience flashback psychosis up to 45
to 90 days after their last use. Addicts present like paranoid
schizophrenics in such episodes; in fact, neurological damage from
meth addiction occurs in the same area of the brain that becomes
damaged in paranoid schizophrenics, Tatton says.

Mountain concedes the program is not perfect for all addictions, but
at this point government-funded resources are limited.

"In the first shot we're not going to get everybody and there are
going to be young people who say: 'I'm putting in my time because I
have to, and I'm going to go back to my old lifestyle,'" Mountain admits.

Parents and guardians can re-apply to the program as often as it's
required, Mountain said. Intake data shows that several youth have
already been re-admitted.

Karla Reyes is the AADAC counselor in Medicine Hat overseeing local
PChAD clients.

"Five days is a really short time for even an adult to want to
initiate any change, but I do believe that . . . it's sometimes like
an eye opener, not only for the child, but also for parents," Reyes
says.

If youth relapse, parents can continuously apply for court orders to
re-admit their children, creating a kind of punishment-avoidance
motivation in youth.

"It's not as ideal as kids seeing light and saying: 'I need to make
changes.' It's a long, slow process that takes a lot of patience,"
Mountain says.

So far, about 45 per cent of youth continue from confinement to
voluntary treatment for their addictions.

"In the short term, that's a very encouraging number for us," Mountain
says. "That's 45 per cent of a group of kids we never would have seen
in the first place."