TOUGH LOVE

Okanagan Father Took His Teenage Daughter To Alberta For Forced
Treatment Under Custody To Get Her Off Crystal Meth And Out Of The
Drug Scene

After being out of touch for several months, Paul took one look at his
daughter and knew she was in serious trouble. "I finally found her in
a park. She was with the other kids who use it for a scoring centre,"
said Paul, an Okanagan father who doesn't want his real name used.
"Her eyes were dead. She had sores on her skin. She was totally out of
control

"She had gone from this lovely, intelligent young girl to someone I
just didn't recognize anymore. Through my tears, I told her I wished
there was something I could do for her." Paul's daughter, who we will
call Jennifer, was hooked on crystal meth, an equal opportunity
destroyer of young people, regardless of their background

Jennifer had a good background and a family that was prepared to get
her help, although they would have to go to Alberta to do it

In B.C., treatment programs for adolescents are voluntary. In Alberta,
the youth can be taken into custody in the treatment centre with the
consent of the parents

Kelowna-Lake Country MLA Al Horning said he is interested in the
mandatory treatment of addicted adolescents in Alberta and will raise
the matter in Victoria

"To me, it (mandatory treatment) makes sense," said Horning. "Most of
the kids don't want to go into treatment, but if their parents want
them there, that should be considered." Horning said he would take up
the issue with the appropriate ministry "to see what their thinking is
on it." Jennifer was taken to the Alberta Adolescent Recovery Centre
in Calgary. Her parents tricked her into the centre on the pretext
that they were visiting an uncle who was at AARC

After Jennifer walked through the door, they locked it behind
her

"They cut her off from everyone in her past who was using drugs," said
Paul. "There was a graduate of the program with her 24/7. She couldn't
go to the washroom by herself

"They took all her makeup, everything in her purse and gave her one
change of clothes." AARC councillors say their tough love program is
unlike any in Canada. A key to the program is its length of treatment

It averages about one year and is based on the 12 steps of Alcoholics
Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous. The parents are part of the program
to the extent that Jennifer's mother and stepfather moved to Calgary
for the duration of her stay

The program is so anti-drugs that if a parent is a smoker, he or she
isn't allowed to enter the building. AARC is open to all, regardless
of income level. Families who cannot afford full AARC fees of $125/day
($135 out of province) are assessed on their ability to pay. Remaining
fees are covered through AARC fundraising and government support

AARC counsellor Colin Brown said there has been talk in B.C. of
adopting the Alberta approach of mandatory treatment, but nothing has
yet come of it

The centre was founded by a group of parents, who hired Dr. F. Deane
Vause to provide the treatment model. Most youth in the centre started
experimenting with drugs and alcohol between the ages of 11 and 15

Vause says it always starts as a fun way to party and loosen up, but
the drugs soon lead kids into a life of robbery and the sex trade as a
means of getting more money for more drugs

"That's when you start to have problems," said Vause. "You're stealing
money from your parents, you start to feel guilty, you're skipping
classes, running away from home. Jail is a possibility. Overdoes are
common. What started out as fun becomes fun with problems, and then
it's just hell." Studies show that substance abuse is involved in more
than half of the deaths of young people

Jennifer was released from AARC after a year. She still goes back for
sessions three or four times a week. Her father says she has graduated
from high school with Bs and As and is talking about what she wants to
do with her future

"I think I've got my daughter back," said Paul.