TREATING ADDICTS COSTS US BILLIONS

Takes Toll On Health Care, Justice Systems

MARC Pelletier carried his black bag out of a local drug rehab
facility yesterday morning and lit a cigarette to celebrate his 21st,
and final, day of treatment.

Pelletier has been a relapsing crack addict for 13 years and has been
clean for 30 days. Although he said he's finally kicked his habit,
Pelletier already lost everything else to his addiction -- from his
job of 18 years to his daughter to Child and Family Services.

"It's a terrible world," he said. "It's great to be straight."

But Pelletier isn't the only one paying a high price because of
substance abuse.

An increase in binge drinking and illegal drug use from the early
1990s is contributing to the estimated $1.5 billion price tag of
substance abuse in Manitoba, a new study suggests.

Yesterday, the Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse released its first
cost study on alcohol, tobacco and illegal drugs in Canada since
1996. The national cost of substance abuse and its toll on health
care, the criminal justice system and costs associated with premature
death and disability jumped from $18.5 billion in 1992 to nearly $40
billion in 2002. Tobacco and alcohol account for nearly 80 per cent
of the cost of substance abuse in Canada, despite a drop in
smoking-related deaths and illness.

Manitoba ranked seventh out of 13 provinces in its spending, behind
Ontario, which spends more than $14 billion and Quebec, which spends
more than $8.5 billion annually.

Addictions Foundation of Manitoba CEO John Borody said adults in
their early and mid-20s are binge drinking, or consuming five or more
drinks on a single occasion, and the use of street drugs like crystal
meth is also on the rise.

Two years ago, Borody said, no youths were in AFM treatment programs
because of crystal meth addictions. Now, 50 per cent of youth in
rehab are meth addicts.

In a 1994 Canadian Addictions Survey, 5.4 per cent of Canadians
reported they binge drink at least once a week, compared with seven
per cent of respondents in 2004. In 1994, 28 per cent of Canadians
said they used marijuana at least once compared with more than 44 per
cent in 2004. The use of crack cocaine by Canadians also increased by
seven per cent from 1994 to 2004.

"The wait lists were always long, but they are longer," Borody said.

AFM is now looking at ways to handle the demand for alcohol and
narcotic treatment programs. Borody said they are hiring outreach
workers to help street kids stop using and launched a pilot project
allowing anyone from the community to attend group meetings at River
House residential treatment centre.

Although Borody said more people are seeking treatment for addiction
than ever before, he noted more drug addicts are using a variety of
substances and more also suffering from a mental illness. "It's
forced us to look at the way we deliver our programs," he said.

Dave B., a recovering crack cocaine addict, said he was unaware of
treatment programs until he was sent to prison 10 years ago for
dealing drugs and selling illegal weapons in Alberta. Dave has been
addicted to cocaine, crack, intravenous drugs and alcohol, and will
leave what he says is his last stint in rehab today.

Reaching out to addicts and offering them hope is the best way to
motivate people to change, Dave said.

"Before I had no desire to get anywhere," he said. "All I wanted to
do was get high."

Cost Of Treatment

Total cost to Manitoba health care: $1.5 billion

Tobacco cost to Manitoba health care: $175 million

Illegal drug cost to Manitoba health care: $35 million

Illegal drug cost to Manitoba criminal system: $24.5 million

Alcohol cost to Manitoba health care: $114 million

Alcohol cost to Manitoba legal system: $28.5 million

Total cost of substance abuse to each Canadian: $1,267