AGENCIES WORK TOGETHER TO HELP METH ADDICTS

Education, Harm Reduction And Treatment Primary Focus

Editor's note: This is the third in a four-part series leading up to a
Town Forum on crystal meth to be held at Brennan Park Recreation
Centre on April 11.

The criminal, health and emotional crises created by addiction to
substances such as crystal meth have brought together Squamish's
medical, enforcement and mental health agencies. But officers, nurses
and counsellors all acutely feel the limitations of what they can do.
Sea to Sky Community Services counsellor Denise Evans says addressing
all the needs is next to impossible due to funding
restrictions.

"We need someone who's designated full-time family and youth worker as
well as at least a couple of people doing the adult population so we
can do groups. At this point I do groups in the schools but I'm doing
so much individual counseling I don't have time to run groups or to
run a drop-in program."

But everyone is trying to do their part.

Colin Worth of the RCMP says Squamish's detachment is concerned with
Squamish's addiction problem and officers support drug and alcohol
counselors and the other social services in this community. Although
no meth labs have been discovered, marijuana grow-operations are
found, said Worth. The RCMP's primary focus, however, is on crime
prevention.

"We have to do what we can from the crime side of things to make it
harder for people to support their habit, which hopefully in turn
causes them to seek help for their addiction," said Worth "That means
lock your cars, make sure your vehicles are locked and valuables are
in the trunk, be involved in block watch and report suspicious activity.

"They seem pretty simple on the face of it, and pretty well worn and
yet we find that communities that begin to take care of themselves
generally there is lower rate of crime in those areas."

The RCMP is also heavily involved with youth, believing that
prevention is the key to fighting drugs. RCMP officers coach sports
teams and are involved with Drug Abuse Resistance Education (DARE),
and join Sea to Sky Community school-based prevention co-ordinator
Leanna Buffie in talking to elementary and high school students about
the dangers of drugs. This approach can be more productive than
busting dealers and grow-ops, said Worth.

"We simply don't have, and I don't think any police force in Canada
has, the resources to immediately respond to reports of a grow-op. But
over a few days and maybe a week or two then we generally will have
the opportunity to gather the information, get a search warrant and
execute the search warrant. And if someone's been tipped off or they
believe that they see police hanging about in our attempt to gather
more information, they may get concerned and close down their grow op,
so by the time we execute the search warrant, no one's there."

A Vancouver Coastal Health initiative aims at reducing the harmful
effects of addiction on society through its needle exchange program.
The health authority's program attempts to reduce the spread of
Hepatitis and HIV. The program has as its objectives "to increase the
overall health of all members of our communities including those who
choose to use drugs or have high-risk sexual activity," according to
the needle exchange pamphlet. For 14 hours a week, a Vancouver Coastal
Health needle exchange coordinator supplies sterile needles, sterile
water and clean injection material in and out of the public health
offices. Public health nurses will not attempt to get addicts to quite
using, choosing instead to "respect each other's beliefs, values and
concepts." But services are immediately available to those who express
a desire to get clean.

The program also has as its objective to collect 100 per cent of the
needles it gives out and that objective is almost always met, said
public health nurse Amy Jolicoeur. One shortfall, however, is that
many clients wish the hours would be extended, but that's impossible
due to limited funding.

Vancouver Coastal Health's Sea to Sky Manager of Mental Health and
Addictions, Claudia Frowein, said addicts wishing to kick the habit
have options nonetheless. Some may need to admit themselves to a detox
program, while others can detox at home. Treatment facilities are
available throughout the Lower Mainland to those who have detoxed, but
some may choose to attend counseling and group treatment from home.
Frowein expects a response to funding requests for a recovery house
and other services within the next few weeks.