GETTING HELP

Drug rehabilitation available

SIMCOE COUNTY -- "The person who's just a drinker is a disappearing breed,"
says Bob McTavish, a registered nurse at the Georgianwood Concurrent
Disorder Program based at the Penetanguishene Mental Health Centre. Today
the combinations of addictions are "endless. Poly-substance abuse is really
on the rise."

McTavish said he has witnessed firsthand the increase in hard-drug use in
the north end of the county in particular where he conducts assessments.

McTavish, who's been with the Georgianwood program for 25 years and is also
a member of the community outreach team, said the program was initially
called Problem Drinkers, which is somewhat passe by today's standards.

McTavish encountered his first cocaine addict around 1984, noting the person
was "a bit of a novelty then. Now it's rather commonplace."

Then crack cocaine slowly came on the scene around the late-1980s. With a
massive housing construction at that time and therefore more money being
thrown around, McTavish began to see various tradespeople develop serious
cocaine addictions.

Then people who were doing coke needed a more potent high, which led to the
them freebasing the drug to create what's called crack cocaine.

"Coke is fast, but crack is more intense and pleasurable," McTavish said.

"But the stimulus, the high, is short-lasting, so they're always chasing
that high," he said.

And with crack cocaine tightening its grip around the necks of some Simcoe
County residents, many have sought treatment at places like Georgianwood.

McTavish said people using crack cocaine -- whether heavily or simply on a
recreational basis =AD should be aware of how fast the narcotic can pull a
person under.

"It's fast, progressive and people using it can be in trouble after just a
few weeks, major trouble if you're using it over a series of months,"
McTavish said.

"It's powerful and it's going to get a hold of you. Recreational users are
few and far between."

Seeking counselling is just the first step.

"It is tough to kick," said McTavish, noting Georgianwood sees about 300
people a year come in for various drug problems with about 30 to 40 per cent
of those having cocaine in their background. "There's a wide variety of
reasons people come to us. For virtually 100 per cent of them something bad
has happened."

That could include being pinched by the law and being given a subsequent
court order to kick the habit, to family issues.

"Some people will take that wake-up call seriously; other times people seek
treatment to get people off their backs," said McTavish, adding counselors
can usually see the difference fairly early on.

Other people "seek rest and not recovery," he added, meaning they inevitably
slip back into addiction after a period of respite.

Symptoms of addiction can include a person's health deteriorating rapidly,
usually beginning with the immune system, making a user more susceptible to
such things as a common cold.

Then there's also the mental anguish, including depression, anxiety and
general "lifestyle chaos," he said. "They're just plain run down."

McTavish hasn't encountered crystal meth.

"I haven't seen a lick of it yet," he said, "but it's quite likely here to
some degree. Give it a couple of months and I'm sure we'll start seeing it."

McTavish, who has counselled hundreds of addicts over the years, said his
message to anyone tempted to try hard rugs is simple.

"It robs them of their existence in life," he said. "It's tragic. I've met
some brilliant addicts -- everything falls apart and they hit bottom."

Addiction treatment for a hard-drug user is no different than that of an
alcoholic, pot smoker or crack use, he said. Counselors at Georgianwood
avoid speaking about the substance directly, and rather focus on lifestyle.

"We're strong believers in self-help and 12-step fellowship," said McTavish,
noting the tried, tested and true 12-step program dates back to the
mid-1930s, and it works.