OFFERING HELP

If You Look Hard Enough You Can See Merritt's Drug Problem Everywhere.

Unfortunately If You Aren't Looking You'll Miss It Altogether.

Luckily for the people struggling with addiction issues in Merritt
not everyone has their head buried in the sand. These people know of
the problem and are working diligently to do what they can. Addicts
in the community have a lot of people watching their backs. The bad
news is many of them are not seeking help.

For the most part this is something many of us just can't understand.
Why, if an addict is given a chance, wouldn't they make a change?

The problem is addiction is a mental health issue. People do not
become addicted to drugs because they are not strong individuals.
Addiction of any type is a disease and should be treated as such. To
say that people who struggle with addictions are weak makes it sound
like they are suffering from something that should be easy to kick.

If you haven't actually kicked a habit as engained as drug addiction
then you really shouldn't judge. Take the worst bad habit you have,
multiply it by 1,000 and you only have a fraction of what people go
through when they beat a drug habit.

That is why it is so important that people who are successful in
their recovery pass on the message to others who are addicted or may
become hooked.

This week is National Addictions Awareness Week, and in keeping with
that theme the Herald caught up with one of the people who make up
the Helping Hands Society. Brian Hopkins knows firsthand what
addiction can cost, is how this story starts. The reality is, the
only people that really understand the cost of addiction are the ones
who have struggled with it either through their own addictions or
that of a loved one.

The honesty of Brian's story is alarming but important. Few people
think of the consequences of taking that first hit, but it could be a
determining point in your life. Brian told the Herald that from the
first hit of cocaine he chased that high for the rest of his
addiction. He never again caught it, but the chase kept him running
for many years.

When talking to addicts the most common word they use to describe
their lives while they were addicted is waste. It is scary how much
reality lies in the term "getting wasted." Never before has slang
been more on target.

Brian was lucky -- he survived. Some people aren't as fortunate.

In British Columbia, drug abuse is a huge issue. It is estimated that
200,000 people in B.C. have problems with alcohol consumption, and
another 33,000 are addicted to illegal drugs. Our province is known
as the marijuana capital of Canada and is famous for the heroin abuse
on the downtown eastside of Vancouver. But this problem spreads well
beyond the border of the Lower Mainland. It is prominent in the small
cities and towns throughout the province.

In order to make some progress it is important that the problem of
addictions be attacked head on.

For the past month the Merritt Herald has been running an education
program on crystal meth in the Valley Express. It was an initiative
brought forward by the Province of B.C. The idea was to educate the
public on the evils of crystal meth. Even if it only made a
difference on one child it can be considered a success and money well spent.

Last year the province spent approximately $92 million on support for
addiction services, almost double of the year prior. You need not
look any further than the Gathering of Voices conference in Merritt
last week to see that this is money well spent. More people should
follow this example and offer a positive, proactive way to educate
people on the topic of addiction.

Enforcement will only get us so far. Without education and treatment
the cycle of addiction will only continue. Let's hope people will
continue to offer a helping hand even when it seems no one is taking
it, because you just never know when someone may discover they need it.