HOW LONG CAN ADDICTS WAIT?

If you follow the Summerside court stories in the news at all, you
know many people are charged and convicted under the Controlled Drugs
and Substances Act each week.

Most in the justice system would agree that many other offences -
ranging from theft to assault - occur as a result of drug use or the
need to feed an addiction.

Some likely read the stories with a certain detachment or even
derision of the person accused.

Many may even have a notion that the drug problem in Summerside, and
Prince County in general, will eventually be solved through the court
system.

It won't.

There are 144 people currently in the provincial Methadone Maintenance
Treatment Program and 51 on the active waiting list. Two doctors are
able to prescribe the treatment through the program.

The demand for methadone is so great that some have turned to buying a
dose off the street. There, it could cost $100 per bottle, and there
is no guarantee the buyer will use it properly.

The MMTP may be under-funded, but that could derive from the public's
perception of drug addicts, says Summerside lawyer Trish Cheverie.

"People ask me all the time, 'What's with all the drug addicts?' but
they don't understand it's a physiological compulsion. It's not the
same as wanting to have a drink. There's a lot of pain involved," she
said.

"There's a misunderstanding of what addiction is. The public thinks
these people are weak and morally incompetent, so the idea of putting
more money in to help them take a different drug is not appealing."

Many drug addicts who actually want help with getting clean can't
access treatment programs in Charlottetown because of distance and
poverty.

But even if they had the means to get there, many can't even get into
the program to begin with. Many addicts are getting discouraged being
on a waiting list for so long.

It's clear this area needs a local addictions treatment facility. But
Prince County, along with many people who want help, have been on that
waiting list for far too long.