NEW CENTRE TO TAKE ADDICTS OFF THE STREETS

Facility To Divert People From Hospital, Police Cells

A cutting-edge "sobering centre" is coming to Surrey.

The 20-bed facility is intended for drunks and drug addicts who are
picked up on the street, and will be linked to addiction,
mental-health and housing services.

"We will go in the ground as soon as we get permits from the city,"
B.C. Housing Minister Rich Coleman told The Province.

"We're going to get it done," he said. "You have folks that arrive at
an emergency room on a pretty regular basis. We know that if we could
divert those people to a centre where they could actually deal with
their issues on alcohol or drugs, and sober up, then we can actually
talk to them about trying to change their lives."

Surrey Mayor Dianne Watts said there should be a place for police and
paramedics to take drunks off the street, without a referral.

The problem now, said Watts, is that these people go into the
emergency ward or are locked in cells, then are let out the next morning.

"There's no interruption in their behaviour," said Watts. "Clearly,
that is not the place for them."

Several years ago, the city bought land near Surrey Memorial Hospital
for the sobering centre. It is now part of Surrey's new
crime-reduction strategy.

"When we did our crime-reduction strategy, looking at the root causes
of crime, which we know are drug-related, we decided where some of
the gaps were," Watts said.

"One of the significant gaps is a point of entry, where people can go
from the streets right directly into a facility.

"There needs to be a point of entry at the street level, and make
sure there are support services imbedded in the facility, including
mental health [and] addictions counselling and all the health issues
associated with substance abuse."

Surrey Memorial sees more than 25,000 visits a year from those with
drug and alcohol issues.

Fraser Health Authority spokeswoman Joan Marshall said the regional
agency doesn't have the funds to operate the facility, and called the
situation "status quo."

"We would love to be involved in this project, but there's this issue
of funding," said Marshall.

Coleman said the centre could be run by Fraser Health Authority or
even a non-profit agency, but its operations will be fully funded.

The centre itself will cost millions of dollars, and its full cost
won't be known until the plans are completed.

Coleman expects the centre to be built in the next 16 to 18 months.