WAIT LISTS GROW WHILE YOUNG ADDICTS SUFFER

If you're young and addicted to drugs, you might as well take a
number.

Despite last year's provincial announcement of 75 new treatment beds,
long waiting lists for addiction treatment persist.

Parents of drug-addicted teens say their children's heroin and cocaine
addictions are spiralling out of control while their names languish on
waiting lists.

When it comes to drugs, B.C. doesn't have much to be proud
of:

* Vancouver is known as one of the most drug-riddled cities in the
world. * B.C. has the highest rate of youth alcohol and drug abuse in
Canada. And it's growing. A recent large study reported marijuana use
among B.C. youth up from 25 per cent in 1992 to 40 per cent in 1998.
Among 17-year-olds, admitted experimentation with marijuana has
doubled over the last five years to 59 per cent. * B.C. has the worst
epidemic of hepatitus C in the western world. * B.C. has Canada's
highest HIV rate, highest death rate attributable to illicit drug use
and highest public cost for drug abuse. * B.C. has 15,000 regular
injection drug users, says provincial health officer Dr. Perry
Kendall. * B.C. also has the most fragmented and woefully inadequate
drug treatment of all provinces.

The situation is making activists out of a growing number of parents
and others close to young addicts.

From Grief to Action is a group of families and friends of drug users
that meet to discuss prevention and treatment and offer support to
users and their families.

The group will be holding its first public meeting Friday (details
below).

Members want:

* More detox and long-term residential treatment programs available on
demand. * Less expectation of short-term recovery. Nichola Hall, one
of the group's founders, says that because demand for each treatment
bed is so high and because treatment operators don't have to count
patients who fail and are kicked out early, addicts aren't given
sufficient time to recover. "It makes their (success rate) look
better." * Coverage of the methadone bill after an addict in recovery
gets a job and off welfare. * An increase in the number of pharmacies
that dispense methadone. * Safe injection sites that position health
and social workers to encourage addicts into detox and recovery.

Public gatherings

From Grief to Action

The group From Grief to Action will hold a public meeting at 7 p.m. on
Friday, May 12, at St. Mary's Church at 2490 W. 37th Ave. in Vancouver.

To contact the group send e-mail to ( grieftoaction@hotmail.com ) or
call 261-9079. Organizers would appreciate being called by those
planning to attend.

B.C. treatment campaign

In a separate gathering, relatives and friends of young people who
have died from drug abuse will meet today at Britannia school to plan
the launch of a B.C.-wide campaign for drug treatment on demand.

"We're calling for detox and residential treatment within 48 hours,"
said organizer Jim Leyden of the Coalition of Hope.

Leyden says B.C. could "save a fortune" by making treatment available
to addicts.