TEEN CRYSTAL METH ADDICTS GETTING NEW REHAB CENTRE

Connie Forbister knows all too well the soul-killing destruction that
crystal meth addiction can wreak.

Forbister has spent most of her adult life working with youth,
particularly native kids. Much of that time has been developing and
running drug and alcohol rehab programs for teens.

These days she's running Night Wind Treatment Centres, which has a
program for teenage girls on a farm near Legal. Night Wind just got
the go-ahead cash from the Edmonton Housing Trust Fund to develop a
program specifically for teen crystal meth addicts.

"We're not scared of crystal meth kids," Forbister says. She's fully
aware of the special challenges that this highly addictive, potent
drug poses for anyone trying to break free of it.

Most drugs don't affect a user's body the way crystal meth, a
synthetic form of speed, does. Meth literally alters the way the
brain functions, and the effects can last months after an addict has
cleaned up. Long after someone has purged the chemical from their
system, they can still be prone to wild mood swings, violent
outbursts and suicidal depression.

It takes a special kind of treatment program to help people escape
crystal meth's clutches. And if anyone gets that fact, it's Forbister.

Forbister has worked in remote communities in northern Manitoba,
Ontario and Alberta, helping kids that most other adults would write
off as beyond redemption. For nearly a decade, she crusaded for teen
solvent abusers, kids who had sunk so low that they were
systematically destroying their brains with gasoline fumes.

Often, when kids reach that level of despair, they're considered
beyond reach. Sniffers, the conventional wisdom goes, have
permanently damaged their cognitive abilities and have little chance
of ever being able to reclaim their lives.

But in Forbister's experience, sniffers are not beyond repair. A
regimen that includes good nutrition, enough exercise and rest, along
with appropriate spiritual and emotional counselling, goes a long way
toward helping them regain their faculties and become productive
members of society - as long as the people running the rehab program
are patient and understand what the kids are going through.

And so it is with meth addicts.

"You have to be kind with them, but you also have to be smart," Forbister says.

While the details of Night Wind's new program are still being worked
out, the broad strokes will be like this: There will be an intensive
detox program. Crack users, for example, can drain the poisons from
their bodies within a few days, but crystal meth can stay in the
system for weeks. It's often two weeks before a regular sleeping
pattern can even be established, never mind dealing with an addict's
attention span and mood swings.

Once the kids have cleared detox, they'll move on to the regular
rehab program, which will include helping them take control of their
addiction and participate in intensive emotional therapy. From there,
they'll move on to what's known as an aftercare program, which will
prepare them for life after rehab, helping them further their
education, find employment and develop simple life skills like
planning and sticking to a schedule.

The program's length is yet to be worked out, but Forbister says it
will be tailored to fit each kid's needs.

A building near 118 Avenue and 125 Street has already been selected.
Forbister isn't worried about neighbours playing the NIMBY (not in my
backyard) card because it previously housed young offenders.

She hopes to have the first kids enter the detox program in January.
With a total capacity of 30 kids, it will have upwards of 25 staff
running the program, so Forbister's confident there'll be adequate supervision.

Ultimately, she says, Night Wind hopes to move to a permanent
facility on the outskirts of Edmonton to remove the kids from
potential temptations in the city.

"Kids," she says, "are so resilient. They can bounce back from just
about anything, but you have to give them the support and tools to do that."