TIME FOR A NEW APPROACH

I'm standing on the curving front steps of a lovely manor house,
beautifully restored to its original condition. People approach over
the park-like grounds, the flower beds riotous with spring flowers. My
host waves to me and we enter the dining room, taking our place at one
of the long refectory tables. After smiling introductions, our simple
lunch is served -- crusty bread and cheese, fresh tomato pasta and a
salad, all made with produce from the farm.

Earlier in the day, we visited the vegetable and berry gardens, the
orchard, the poultry houses and the dairy, as well as the sports oval,
tennis courts and rec hall. After lunch, we will inspect the
restoration work on the rest of the heritage buildings, as well as the
kennels, the IT department, the administration and living quarters and
the 10-bed clinic.

This bustling village is actually a treatment centre for people living
with addiction. Currently, there are 300 guests living and working
here on this 80-hectare estate, which covers almost 75 per cent of its
own running costs. The team of professionals, doctors, nurses,
therapists and educators who head up the formal staff, work together
with the guests to provide a productive, therapeutic and healing
environment over a period of three years.

Because the challenge of addiction is not getting clean. People go
cold turkey all the time. Addiction is a psychological condition.
Fixing the body with pharmaceuticals does not work on the "mind." In
15 years working in addictions, I have never met a person who didn't
want to get clean and have a decent happy life. Never. I booked a man
into detox for the 35th time last month.

The challenge is having a life after addiction. The failure of our
system is in not providing the long-term psychological therapy,
married to valued service, education, fun and safety, that can
gradually restore an individual's faith in themselves and offer them
real hope for the future.

False hope exists in the form of short-term, stop-gap, inadequately
resourced services. Most come out of treatment, freshly minted with
resolve and determination, with little to offer but a resume of
criminal activity, failed recovery attempts, alienated families and
barely processed trauma.

No wonder addiction is considered to be a chronic relapsing condition.

Imagine if our prison system operated on this holistic therapeutic
model. After all, 80 per cent of all inmates are there because of
drug-related offences. I am put in mind of a headline I read in a
newspaper last year which said, "Convicted rapist released after 20
years. At risk to reoffend." He is now 68. Long-term punitive measures
. . . say no more.

In 2008, B.C. spent $644.3 million on homelessness (addiction and
mental illness included) with little discernible improvement. It is
time to entertain other options.

The above scenario is not a myth. The therapeutic community model is
proven throughout the world to be a real humanitarian, economic and
productive solution.

O Canada, our compassionate and innovative land . . . when will you
see the light?