YOUTH DRUG TREATMENT NEEDED NOW

Red Deer shouldn't give up until Premier Ralph Klein says "No" to our
face.

I'm talking about the forgotten addicts of Red Deer and Central
Alberta, our youth, and the need for a youth addictions treatment
facility here.

We know we've got the problem. We just need help - provincial
government funding help, whether that is via AADAC, Children's
Services or Alberta Health.

Anyone who doesn't know there's a big problem with youth using street
drugs in Red Deer hasn't talked to any young people lately, or has
their head in clay.

Parents of addicted youth have recently formed a support group. They
know very well the problem is here.

This isn't about kids being one toke over the line. It's about the use
of dangerous addictives - heroin, crack cocaine and, in particular,
crystal meth.

Crystal meth is such a dirty drug that provinces are bringing in
measures to try to control its manufacture.

Saskatchewan and Manitoba announced this week that they will restrict
the sale of 17 cold remedies. These products contain pseudoephedrine,
the favourite ingredient in making crystal meth. Soon the products
will be available only behind pharmacy counters and only 3,600 mg can
be bought at one time.

Alberta, British Columbia and Ontario are considering similar action
but have yet to take the plunge. Sooner rather than later would be
good.

Some Alberta drugstores have placed the product behind counters or
limited the amount on shelves.

The federal government has got on board by increasing penalties for
people who push the drug.

Klein recently announced that his wife Colleen will head up a task
force on crystal meth. That's good because it means the problem has
his attention.

But do we have to wait for the task force's work to be done before
pushing ahead with more treatment facilities, and more money for
addiction counsellors and other front-line workers?

There is need now for treatment in Red Deer. It's where the difference
will be made. In the trenches, working with youth, offering them a
hand out of addiction hell.

Youth have always experimented, but with crystal meth they are unaware
of how addictive it is until they've tried it. Then it's too late.

If we offer them serious help, not just pamphlets, there's a better
chance they can leave a harmful lifestyle behind and still have a
promising future.

TV ads won't help these kids. In-house treatment will. And after that
there must be follow-up treatment available.

Red Deer was overlooked in the last provincial budget despite a call
by Red Deer North MLA Mary Anne Jablonski for a youth addictions
treatment facility here.

Edmonton and Calgary got funding, via AADAC, for four detoxification
beds and eight residential treatment beds each.

AADAC recently spent $450,000 for a couple of mediocre TV ads aimed at
raising awareness about the dangers of crystal meth.

Too bad the ads didn't show the holes in brains, people picking
crystal deposit scabs off their faces and eating them to try to get
high, or kids trading their dearest possessions or doing break and
enters so they can get more of the drug.

Spend the money on treatment instead.

Often cut into other street drugs such as ecstasy, crystal meth is
cheap and anyone can manufacture it.

Task forces, restricting access to the ingredients and Alberta's plan
to bring in a law allowing it to seize children from parents who are
either addicted to drugs or involved in the drug trade are part of the
attack, but they aren't all of it.

And the latter, seizing children, will likely undergo a constitutional
challenge. Besides, you can't force someone out of addiction. They
have to want out.

People will still use drugs and they will find ways to make them and
buy them, whatever obstacles are in the way.

When the time comes that they do want out, treatment is the answer.
And the younger they are, they better the chance that they will
successfully beat the addiction.

Treatment will not only save lives, it will save lifetimes of money in
health care, policing, courts, as well as the immeasurable costs felt
by the families of those addicted.

In 2006, AADAC is expected to implement legislation started by
Jablonski allowing for mandatory assessment and detoxification for
drug-addicted youth.

Parents will be able force their children into drug detox facilities
against their will. Youths will spend five days in detoxification and
assessment before being free to leave.

The Edmonton and Calgary beds now being funded are for voluntary
clients. Where will the involuntary kids go?

The legislation isn't worth spit if there's nowhere to treat these
people.

This city needs an addictions treatment centre for young people.

If there's any doubt, ask any one of the families now witnessing a
child being taken from them by crystal meth.