STEALING FOR DRUGS

Addict wants help but can't get into methadone program

When Jennica Warren went into a local store a few months ago, her only
purpose was to steal a pair of sneakers.

The 21-year-old Summerside resident will soon appear in court to
answer to a theft charge, but says she needs help.

Warren has been addicted to the prescription medication hydromorphone,
better known as dilaudid, for the past four years.

"Everybody's ashamed of their addiction but the shame is over now for
me, I don't care," she said. "If everyone in Summerside has to hate me
for me to get better, so be it. It can't get any worse."

Warren planned to sell or trade the shoes she stole because she ran
out of money to buy her fix of pills.

For the past several months, she's been inquiring about entering the
Province's Methadone Maintenance Treatment Program, but has had no
success.

Methadone is the most widely used treatment for people living with
opioid dependence, but Warren was told she'd have to wait a year to
get into the program on P.E.I.

"I've never been to jail and I hope I never have to go, but if I don't
get the help, that's where I'm going to end up. I'd be lost," she
said. "Doctors can prescribe these pills (like dilaudid) that are
making it to the streets. If they prescribe the pills, they should be
able to prescribe something to get people off them."

Legal aid attorney Trish Cheverie, who will represent Warren in court,
said offences like theft have become increasingly related to drug use
in Summerside over the past few years. Despite the correlation between
drugs and crime, however, treatment programs aren't easy to access.

"The wait list for people to get into detox has gone from a couple of
days, to a week, to a month," Cheverie said. "If you have a drug
addict who's being told to call back every day, and they do that for a
month and they're still not in, it becomes pretty hopeless pretty quick."

Having only one addiction treatment facility in Charlottetown doesn't
help many addicts who may have poverty and transportation barriers.

"The people that have the least resources are often the ones who need
the resources more. People on the outskirts of society are the least
valued," said Cheverie. "We have a much bigger problem in Prince
County (than in Charlottetown) and I suspect there are socio-economic
explanations for that. The drug problem in West Prince is huge."

Warren's mother Gladys said she's turned to buying methadone off the
street at about $100 per bottle to help her daughter.

Jennica used to have steady work, but now has no income and refuses to
take money from social services simply so she can buy more dilaudid.

She wants the Province to put more money into the methadone program so
she and others who are addicted can get help quicker.

"It's not talked about because everyone's ashamed of it. I'd rather
ruin my name to help out other people. To me, when you want to quit,
you should be able to do it. You shouldn't have to wait," Warren said.
"Summerside's not Summerside anymore. I'm 21 years old and I've seen
it go downhill since I was a kid. For doctors to be able to give a
prescription for methadone to stop three-quarters of it, I don't
understand why they won't do it."