ISLANDERS SEEKING HELP FOR DRUG ABUSE

When Maggie's son died she could not deal with the loss. She turned
to drugs to numb the pain.

Her child's life was claimed by Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, and
soon after, she was using heroin, cocaine and a cocktail of
prescription drugs to help kill the memory of her darling little boy
and what she had lost.

"But it didn't work. I still remember him, like it was yesterday,"
she said, her voice going quiet.

Around the same time, years before their marriage, Maggie's husband
Gordon was becoming addicted to the same drugs as Maggie.

By his early 20s Gordon was stealing and robbing stores to feed his addiction.

A soft-spoken man, Gordon said he will never forget the time he
robbed a theatre in Halifax and fired a gun at an employee. He still
recalls looking at the bullet-hole embedded in the wall above the
man's head before fleeing, horrified by what he had done.

About 30 years later and both Gordon and Maggie remain drug addicts.

They admit they made some lousy mistakes, but they are asking the
public's forgiveness for the things they have done as addicts. They
are also asking for help, but are having a hard time getting it
within the provincial health system.

Maggie and Gordon are not their real names. The two, who are
middle-aged, would not reveal their identity for fear of being judged
by the people in their community who do not see their addiction the
same way they do - "a progressive, debilitating disease, which is
often fatal if not treated," says Maggie.

"My worse fear is to die an addict. I want to get well and contribute
to society before I die. I feel I have something to offer," she adds.

On Oct. 21, Gordon and Maggie sit in their Summerside home. Both are stoned.

They are well-spoken and articulate, both with university degrees.

Maggie and Gordon managed to quit heroin, cocaine and alcohol but
have not been able to curb the deadly prescription medications that
are slowly killing them.

The drugs they take are considered opiates, most of which are used as
painkillers and given to seriously ill patients.

The withdrawals Gordon and Maggie experience while coming down off
the drugs has caused Gordon to take seizures. These attacks cause
them both to vomit, their muscles to seize up, as well as induce
hallucinations and psychosis.

But Maggie and Gordon have come to depend on the drugs in order to
normally function in society.

This dependence has put them thousands of dollars in debt and has
forced them to sell their belongings in order to buy the pills they need.

"We refuse to steal," Maggie said.

It cost Gordon and Maggie $120 to illegally buy the drugs they say
they required to do this interview.

Gordon and Maggie have experienced a few good sober years. They met
each other when they were sober.

But a few bad decisions have caused them to relapse into prescription
drug abuse, and they are once again trying to get clean and stay clean.

Gordon and Maggie are now desperately trying to get into the
Methadone Maintenance Program that is offered in Charlottetown. They
feel it is their best option on P.E.I.

Maggie said the regular detox program at Mount Herbert is extremely
painful without methadone, and the hospital does not keep opiate
addicts long enough.

The methadone program is a pilot project, which began last year in
the Island's capital. It is designed to help people who are addicted to opiods.

Addicts are weened off opiods by using another narcotic called
methadone, which eliminates withdrawal symptoms, making it easier to
come off the drug.

The first 13 people to join the methadone remain opiate-free today.

Maggie and Gordon both want to be among that success rate, but said
right now it is almost impossible for them.

They were told they would have to wait a year to get into the
program. "But after a year I will either be clean or dead," Maggie said.

Gordon and Maggie were also informed they would be responsible for
paying for transportation to Charlottetown or accommodations, while
taking the methadone program.

For the first two weeks after being released from the in-patient
program, the couple would need to drive to Charlottetown every day to
be assessed and given their methadone.

"My car is broken and I don't have the money to pay for a hotel,"
Maggie said. She added that her and Gordon barely have enough money to survive.

Upon arriving at their house on Friday, Maggie was on the phone
arguing with someone about the methadone program. For about 10
minutes Maggie tried to convince the person on the receiving end that
her life was in danger and that she and Gordon needed to be admitted
into the program as soon as possible.

She puts the phone down and informs me the person on the other end hung up.

Maggie tells me she has been on the phone a lot talking to people
from the Health department and premier's office trying to get into
the methadone program, but nothing has worked.

Gordon and Maggie are not the only ones who are having a hard time
getting into the treatment program.

During the interview, a young man knocked on the door wondering if
Maggie and Gordon knew where he could get some dilaudids, a form of opiate.

He told them he was trying to get on the methadone program as well
but was told he would have to wait a year and pay for his own
transportation. He told Maggie and Gordon he could not afford that,
but at the same time he was, "Sick of this shit."

Later Maggie and Gordon noted places like, O'Leary, Tignish and small
communities down east are "up to their eyeballs" in opiates.

But these people do not have easy access to methadone treatment.

How are people who live in Tignish or the eastern tip of the Island
supposed to get to Charlottetown every day, she asked. Especially
people who do not have a roof over their head or a phone to be
contacted and notified if they are accepted into the program, she added.

But Joan Walsh, director of nursing, mental health and addictions,
guessed that funding daily transportation to Charlottetown is cheaper
than buying drugs on the streets.

Walsh said if a person is on social assistance they can get some help
with the costs of travelling to the program.

She said there is about a 25-person waiting list to get into the
methadone program, adding all those people have to be screened to
ensure the treatment is for them.

"It is not unusual for the demand to out demand the resources (in
methadone programs). That is the state of (methadone programs) across
the country," she said.

Walsh noted they are pleased with the success of the pilot program
and hope to further develop the service in the future.

Gordon and Maggie believe there should be methadone treatment centres
from east to west on P.E.I. as well rehab and detox centres for other addicts.

Gordon feels there should be lengthier detoxification and
rehabilitation periods for all addicts.

Maggie noted it takes a great deal of nerve to ask for help, and
people should not be turned away or put on a waiting list, because it
might be the last time they try to get clean.

She said it took her about 20 years of being a full-fledged addict to
look for help and that was mostly due to the lack of education on the subject.

Gordon and Maggie agree there should be more information available to
the public on drug abuse, especially for youth.

Drug addiction is a disease, but it is treated as a dirty secret no
one wants to speak about, Maggie said.

In a previous interview with the Journal-Pioneer, Health Minister
Chester Gillan said he does not see a need to expand addiction
services on the Island.

He also said he expects funding to develop these services might be
difficult to find in the future.

And nothing could be more disheartening for Maggie and Gordon.

This week, Maggie finally got fed up with waiting for help. On Friday
she managed to hitch a ride six hours off Island where she will get a
bed and daily doses of methadone to help with the pain.

There, she said she will stay to detoxify for at least two weeks.

Before leaving, Maggie called to say Gordon was admitted to Mount
Herbert on Oct. 22., but was denied methadone.

She expects he will be out Oct.31.

"I hope that will be enough time to help him," she said. "Neither one
of us wants to live like this. It's not living. It's a living hell,
and the government could do so much more if they were open to
suggestions from addicts, who know what will help them."