KEEP GLOVES ON FOR THE FIGHT AGAINST DRUGS

A study commissioned by local health and social services
organizations in Parry Sound has been a long time coming.

Many of us can count ourselves fortunate because we are only vaguely
aware of the drug and alcohol problems that plague the West Parry
Sound District. Health workers, social service employees, police and
court staff see the effects these addictions have on local people every day.

They can tell you the success stories of those who, with help from
their families and programs such as Addiction Outreach, beat their
addictions and move on.

But they can tell you many more stories of those who never beat their
addictions and squander their lives, spending every day in search of
a drink or a fix and ending up in jail or worse. They can tell you
stories of families who live a life of misery, depending on drugs and
alcohol generation after generation.

The Building a System study, released last week, puts those problems
on paper. It shows officials how many local drug addicts and
alcoholics travel to detox centres in Barrie, Sudbury or North Bay,
and helps paint the picture of how many might not have a chance to
fight their addictions because these centres are just too far away.

Perhaps more importantly, the study holds proof that this area has a
very real problem. That evidence can now be put in front of those who
hold the purse strings at the federal and provincial level.

Most of those who face these addictions want an escape. The
addictions are a disease and those who suffer this disease need love,
compassion and services to help.

Now comes the next step. The community has to put pressure on members
of provincial and federal parliaments to take this study seriously
and ensure the West Parry Sound District receives the money and
attention necessary to help the growing number of people addicted to
drugs and alcohol get out of a vicious cycle.

Those who commissioned the study released last week got the ball
rolling. Let's keep that momentum going.