HELP ON THE WAY

Health Minister Iris Evans confirmed yesterday that funding for up to four
residential youth addiction-treatment centres is in the works. And if
possible, she said she would like to see secure provisions at those centres
so young addicts forced into treatment can't escape back to the streets.

"Yes, that's what was in the draft budget," she told the Sun yesterday. "We
are presenting a budget and in the new year we will be working on those
programs."

Evans made the announcement at a youth addictions conference in Sherwood
Park last month.

She said the Alberta Alcohol and Drug Abuse Commission (AADAC) is
developing a plan for treatment centres across the province.

Funding is falling into place, but she didn't want to say how much was
budgeted or where the centres might be located, but she did say she saw a
need for "secure treatment," where clients are detained even against their
will.

Secure Facilities

Proponents of secure treatment facilities say they're needed so kids
kicking drugs can't escape and score drugs on the street.

The move toward secure centres ties into a private member's bill aimed at
forcing young addicts into treatment.

Red Deer MLA Mary Anne Jablonski is working on the "Protection of Minors
Abusing Drugs Act."

If the bill passes in the spring, Evans said it would have to balance the
power of an incarceration order with an addict's rights as a child.

"We have to have that type of facility, but we have to be very careful with
how government works with the families in that situation, something that
the courts would view kindly," she said.

"Incarceration without the appropriate type of legislation is certainly
something that you have to be very careful of."

Right now, drug-addicted teens can voluntarily enter an open treatment
program which they can flee at any time.

They can be ordered into secure treatment only after being convicted of a
criminal offence.

'A Sign Of Hope'

Audrey Bjornstad's teenage son is in treatment for his meth addiction, but
he couldn't get into a provincially run program because he didn't have a
lengthy enough criminal record, she said.

Bjornstad said she couldn't afford private treatment, which costs around
$8,800 a month or more. The prospect of new provincially run treatment
programs is good news, she said.

"It is a sign of hope," Bjornstad said. "And we just so desperately need it."

Marilyn Mitchell, AADAC's manager of youth services, said she had yet to
hear about the province's funding plans.

"Of course it's promising," she said.

"To have money in the budget for treatment centres, that's hopefully what
we're looking for."