FLIP-FLOP ON THE RULES CREATES FLOP HOUSES

Fifty-four-year-old Richard Griffin, who has seen his share of hard
times, is hoping his two daughters won't suffer through decades of
addiction like he has.

"I started (abusing drugs) at the age of 15 and have used drugs of
one kind or another until 17 months ago when I left the streets of
Whalley and went into a recovery house. Since then I have been
clean," Griffin says.

A year and a half of sobriety on the heels of 40 years of substance
abuse is no small feat.

Good for Griffin.

One of his daughters also lived in the same recovery home as Griffin.
She has now been clean a year and lives on her own.

Griffin says his other daughter is not doing as well.

"She is still on the street fighting a heroin addiction. I would like
to see her have the same chance that her sister and myself have had,"
Griffin says.

As the hot potato of addiction treatment is passed between Surrey and
Victoria, however, Griffin's dream grows dimmer.

Surrey is once again getting tough on alcohol and drug recovery
homes, requiring such premises to meet proper zoning and licensing
requirements or be shut down.

The issue, which has been dogging council and the community since the
late 1990s, has arisen anew following public complaints about three
North Surrey recovery homes near 101 Avenue and 133 Street known
collectively as Cornerstone Manor.

Cornerstone has been given until Aug. 15 to rezone or close its
doors. The operator of the recovery home says clients are already
leaving the home because of its uncertain future.

That this uncertainty has been allowed to continue for years, as the
provincial government waffles over the topic of addiction treatment,
is shameful.

In 1998, in an attempt to remedy the problem of unscrupulous recovery
home owners providing shoddy care to clients, Surrey created a bylaw
that would have such homes meet provincial standards, such as having
adequate sprinkler systems, nutrition plans and trained staff.

However, when costs and bureaucracy of administering the Community
Care Facility Act became too onerous, the B.C. government abandoned
the program in 2002, leaving recovery homes unregulated once more.

Surrey Mayor Dianne Watts says the result is there are now at least
50 unlicensed recovery homes operating in this city, many of them
amounting to nothing more than "flop-houses."

"We hear of 35 to 40 people crammed into a house, sleeping on the
floor and couches," Watts says.

Certainly there are homes providing good care. But with no provincial
regulations in place, those already vulnerable - people battling
alcoholism or drug addiction - are left to roll the dice.

Now there is word the health ministry is reviewing its recovery home
regulation process.

Fine, but alcohol and drug recovery homes are just one component of
an addiction treatment plan that should include detox centres,
counselling, life-skills programs and low-income housing. Until a
full spectrum of care is in place, clamping down on the grassroots
movement that aims to help addicts only funnels more desperate people
onto the streets.

Surrey is aiming to catch the ear of the province. Let's hope
somebody is listening.

Victoria needs to stop passing the buck to municipalities in regards
to addiction treatment -a health issue - and pony up the dough to
properly run and staff facilities.

Otherwise, families like the Griffins don't stand a chance.

Paula Carlson is a reporter with the Surrey-North Delta Leader.