URGENTLY NEEDED: NEW ANTI-DRUG AGENCY

Addiction services are being "smothered and lost" in the children's
ministry and need an independent B.C. addictions commission, says a
report to be released today.

The B.C. Medical Association's addiction committee, the RCMP
drug-awareness unit, Kaiser Youth Foundation, and the Alcohol and Drug
Education Service are among organizations holding a media conference
at UBC to press for a special substance-abuse commission.

The report will be released at the opening session of the Pacific
Institute on Addiction Studies conference.

The report, obtained by The Province, contends that the ministry for
children and families' focus on crisis means "vital alcohol, drug and
gambling services are...becoming less effective at a time when they
are needed most."

It comes as increasing numbers of parents of young people addicted to
a variety of illicit drugs, including heroin and cocaine, organize to
demand action.

The report, assembled by the Kaiser Youth Foundation, says drug
prevention and treatment services cannot be delivered under the
current "broken" system.

And it says the experiment of placing addictions professionals under
the jurisdiction of the children's ministry has been a failure.

"Service providers complain that alcohol and drug services suffer from
having a very low priority and profile, no clear provincial strategy,
a lack of focus and leadership, inadequate consultation and
coordination, inconsistent and unreliable funding, miniscule
prevention efforts...

The report says a separate independent commission is "essential" and
that addiction services should not be returned to the jurisdiction of
the health industry.

It says B.C. is the drug-abuse province of Canada, leading the nation
in death from alcohol-related disorders, in HIV, illicit drug-use
deaths and costs of abuse.

The direct costs of B.C. illicit drug use for hospitals, police,
courts and corrections are estimated at over $95 million a year.

Yet the ministry spends only $60 million on prevention and treatment
services - less than four per cent of the $1.7 billion the government
collects in taxes on alcohol, tobacco and gambling.

"With the exception of admitted cigarette smokers, there are more
British Columbians engaged in a wider variety of substance use and
abuse than ever before," the report says.

"We have been unable to respond in a clear, credible and effective
way. Our present and potential problem is massive. Our response has
been woefully inadequate."

The report said the Alberta Alcohol and Drug Abuse Commission
estimates that every $1 invested in treatment saves $7 after one year
through increased productivity as well as savings in health and
justice costs.