NEW ADDICTIONS FEARED

Crystal Meth, Pornography Problems On Horizon, Centre Director
Fears

Just as the province is beginning to understand the issues surrounding
problem gambling, it seems government and health officials may have
some new addictions to tackle.

The executive director of Crosbie House Society, an addiction
treatment centre in New Minas, said Thursday he fears addictions to
crystal methamphetamine and pornography may soon become a problem in
Nova Scotia.

"I haven't had any approaches by anybody about that yet, but it is
coming," George Libby told members of the legislature's community
services committee.

Mr. Libby compared the current situation to when he first got involved
in addiction treatment more than 35 years ago. At that time, he said,
they were dealing with one type of patient and only one substance.

"A normal client was a 40, 45-year-old man with alcohol" addiction, he
said. "We had to start changing our thinking because we'd find
marijuana coming in, and then another big one was cocaine.

"So I have no doubt some of these other addictions" are around the
corner, he said.

Last week, RCMP investigator Paul Robinson said it's only a matter of
time before crystal meth explodes onto the drug scene in Atlantic Canada.

When that happens, he said, addictions will be quick to follow.
Statistics show that 99 per cent of first-time meth users become hooked.

Mr. Libby said a crystal meth problem would most likely be handled
like other drug addictions. But he said it's difficult to say at this
point how treatment providers would approach an addiction to
pornography because it's so new to them.

Something it might be related to, Mr. Libby said, is computer
addiction, an issue he's had some experience with.

"I've had several clients who were addicted to the Internet," he said.
"What they were looking at I'm not sure, but people getting involved
in chat rooms and so on," that has been a problem.

Mr. Libby was joined Thursday by Jan Goodwin and Gen Campbell,
physicians at Crosbie House, as well as Perry Boyd, the facility's
president. The group made a presentation to the committee in hopes of
securing some form of partnership with the province.

Kings West MLA Leo Glavine made a motion, which was passed
unanimously, to meet again with Crosbie House officials. He suggested
that rather than send addiction patients out of the province for
treatment, they be referred to the New Minas centre.

The original Crosbie House, which operated for 24 years in Kentville,
was shut down in March 2003 after the government slashed its funding.
The new facility opened in New Minas a few weeks ago as a non-profit
organization.

The centre, which can accommodate up to 12 patients, is the only one
in Nova Scotia that offers a 28-day, abstinence-based program for
alcoholics and drug and gambling addicts.

Mr. Libby said Crosbie House focuses on the most severely addicted
patients who do not benefit from a harm-reduction program.

He said roughly 10 to 15 per cent of the general population falls into
this category.