ADDITIONAL DETOX BEDS TO CUT WAITS

Newly Renovated Unit Doubles Capacity; Homeless Could
Benefit

Wait times to get into medical detox could be reduced by as much as
two-thirds with the more than doubling of beds in Victoria's
drug-treatment centres, a Victoria doctor says.

Dr. Laurence Bosley, who directs addiction services for the Vancouver
Island Health Authority, was one of a host of dignitaries who
officially opened the newly renovated community medical detox unit at
the Eric Martin Pavilion yesterday.

The unit will receive 14 new beds, while another seven post-detox
"stabilization" beds will be opened at the Pembroke Street Withdrawal
Management Services Unit, where patients can stay for longer periods.

The new beds will increase the number of detox beds in Victoria to 38
from 17.

Opening of the detox beds is expected to help address concerns about
the homeless. According to the Mayor's Task Force on Homelessness,
more than half of those living on the streets in Victoria are drug or
alcohol abusers and 40 per cent are mentally ill, a total of almost
800 people.

When the new Eric Martin facility starts taking patients in February,
it could cut the six-week wait time to one to two weeks, Bosley said.
The unit will provide medical support in the first five to 10 days of
recovery from alcohol or drug addiction, after which patients would
move to other treatment programs tailored to their circumstances and
needs.

Even as many people praised the expansion of drug and alcohol
treatment, some raised questions about the facility's non-smoking policy.

In 2005, the VIHA youth detox centre run by the Victoria Youth
Empowerment Society prohibited smoking on the premises to comply with
federal law and local clean-air bylaws, a move that caused patient
numbers to plummet.

The five-bed unit normally had a waiting list, but when the
non-smoking regulation came in, there were empty beds, and the
completion rate among those who entered the program dropped to half
from 75 per cent.

Gordon Harper, executive director for the Umbrella Society, an
addiction recovery and mental health support society, wants to see the
restriction eased.

"We all know that drug dealers hang around these places. If you tell
addicts they have to go outside to smoke, that is just not the thing
to do. It can upset the whole apple cart."

Bosley called the smoking problem a conundrum but noted nicotine
patches would be available to patients. "It is a conundrum where we
deal between the competing values of having a comfortable environment
or a safe, healthy environment."

Philippe Lucas, Victoria city councilor and graduate research fellow
with the Centre for Addictions Research of B.C., said the no-smoking
rule can be a significant barrier to substance-abusers, who are often
addicted to nicotine.

"My concern is the additional stress it brings on an individual to
quit tobacco while they're trying to detox from other substances,"
Lucas said. "Obviously, detox is not there for the purpose of helping
people to quit smoking."

The new detox beds cost $1.75 million to set up. The Victoria
Hospitals Foundation donated $60,000 from an estate gift to furnish
and outfit the Eric Martin unit.