METH MONEY SEEN AS START

Money is a big weapon in the war against crystal meth, but the $7 million
the provincial government is throwing into the fight may not be enough

"I think $7 million is a drop in the bucket compared to what is needed,"
said Brian Mairs, secretary of the Kelowna Four Pillars Coalition

Calling it a "dirty, filthy drug," Premier Gordon Campbell said the money
will go to various programs

The Union of B.C. Municipalities will get $2 million for treatment and
prevention programs, another $2 million will go to special treatment
programs and the remaining $3 million will be spent during the next year on
a public awareness campaign. Kelowna began looking at the fourpillars
approach -- treatment, prevention, enforcement and harm reduction -- to the
drug problem more than a year ago, and the coalition was formed to
implement the pillars. The program has been used in several European
countries and was introduced to Vancouver several years ago. Mairs is
encouraged that the government is taking a proactive role, but said the $2
million for treatment and prevention amounts to $10,000 per community

He thinks most of the money will stay in the Lower Mainland

"Vancouver has 75 per cent of the population, so where is the money going
to go? The rest will be spread around, but it's a good start." Mairs
praised the plans for more prevention and education, adding it is vital to
stop people from using the drug in the first place

He said the method by which addicts are treated should also be examined,
noting some studies have found that home treatment can be just as effective
as residential treatment, but at a fraction of the cost

Dr. Don Duncan, medical director for mental addiction services for Interior
Health, agrees not all people need to be in a full-time rehab centre. "In
general, we know that the outpatient treatment can be just as effective.
That's the intention of our paradigm shift in addiction treatment," said
Duncan, adding IH is looking at both methods of treating addiction

The outpatient program would be significantly cheaper than in-patient care,
allowing more people to be treated with the same amount of money. Duncan
said meth tends to be a bigger problem in more urbanized centres such as
Kelowna, but drug addiction also occurs in smaller centres and the
outpatient model can be set up in those smaller communities more easily and
cheaper than in-patient facilities

In announcing the funding, Campbell specifically mentioned the Meth Kickers
program at Phoenix Centre in Kamloops. Patrick McDonald, youth and family
program supervisor at Phoenix Centre, said the program offers a new
approach to dealing with meth addiction

Meth Kickers started in February, and is charting new territory with a day
program that provides one-to-one counselling and other support

McDonald said the centre found 40 per cent of its clients were meth addicts

"That was up from about five per cent two years before." McDonald said Meth
Kickers is a drug-specific program, focusing strictly on crystal meth. The
program looks at ways of harm reduction for the users, with the ultimate
goal of getting the person off meth. "We are trying to build some controls
for people who are using substances," he said. "We want to keep people as
healthy as we can and eliminate the use of crystal meth." McDonald said it
is hard to judge the success of the program, saying it is a success just to
get many users through the front door. He knows some users no longer taking
the drug, which can be snorted, smoked or injected. Meth is so addictive
that some people have reported being hooked after using for the first time.
Mairs said the Meth Kickers program seems to be effective

"Kids that I know who have gone through this say it's second to none in
B.C." said Mairs. Duncan said the Meth Kickers program could be a model for
similar programs in other communities

Duncan said the Okanagan currently has no drug treatment program
specifically for crystal meth.

If Al Horning has his way, addicts 18 and younger would have no choice but
to enter a detox program.

The Kelowna-Lake Country MLA is working on a bill that would allow for
mandatory treatment. Alberta is attempting similar legislation, but is
running into legal challenges.

"It's one of my priorities," Horning said, but B.C. and several other
provinces are awaiting the outcome of the Alberta legal challenge.

He said the $7 million is a good start in finding a solution to the meth
epidemic, will allow smaller communities to look into prevention programs
and hopefully will stop meth before it can take hold.

"This is only a start," he said. "This is only seed money."