BOONE ANNOUNCES NEW SUBSTANCE ABUSE PROGRAM

A new service to help young people dealing with substance abuse problems
was announced in Cranbrook Thursday by Children and Families Minister Lois
Boone and Kootenay MLA Erda Walsh.

The service, to be in place in late November, will consist of a seven-day
recovery camp, a three-day intensive group followup and eight weeks of
group counselling in the local community.

The program will cost $110,000 when it becomes fully operational next year
and it will be delivered by the East Kootenay Alcohol and Drug Counselling
Services Society, said Boone.

"Having services in place where they're needed is so important for people
struggling with alcohol and drug problems," she said. In the past, young
people struggling with substance abuse problems often had to go to
Vancouver for specialized services, Boone said.

Now they will be able to get these services close to home in the East
Kootenay, she said.

"If you can shift those dollars transporting kids outside the community and
say O.K. we're going to provide those dollars closer to home, it makes
sense to me," she said.

Boone said the new services are part of the government's commitment to
provide $9.25 million for new alcohol and drug addiction services in the
province this year.

The program will begin on an interim basis in late November with 10 youth
and expand into a full-time program early in the new year, she said.

Kootenay MLA Erda Walsh said the new services will fulfill an important
role in the community. "I'm pleased to see that youth in our community will
now have new resources to help them fight their addiction problems," she said.

"These new services fill a long-standing need in our community."

Dr. Arnold Lowden, chairman of the Alcohol and Drug Counselling Service of
the East Kootenay, said the youths will initially attend a year-round camp
at a private facility near Cranbrook to begin the treatment program.

The facility is not being identified for security reasons, he said.

Two professional drug and alcohol counsellors will work with the youth to
help them confront their dependencies and begin the long, slow healing
process, he said.

"You have to alter their attitudes towards using these drugs. That's the
big key," he said.

Once the camp-stay and intensive followup aspect of the program is
completed, the youths will return to home and receive eight more weeks of
help from trained mentors in the community and from the outreach services
program of the alcohol and drug services centre in Cranbrook, he said.

Early intervention is the key to the program, said Jan Greenfield,
administrator of the alcohol and drug counselling service centre. "We want
youth willing to make a change," she said.

The fact that youth with substance abuse problems will be able to receive
intensive treatment in the East Kootenay instead of waiting six months for
treatment in Vancouver will be a big plus for the program, she said.

"This make a big difference for these children," said Kelly Madigan,
manager of prevention and early intervention for the Ministry of Children
and Families.