MOM SAYS SHE'S WAITING FOR ADDICT SON TO DIE

In order to protect the identities of the people featured in this
story, the mother of a drug-addicted young person will be called
Peggy Strife, and her son will be called Brad.

One local mother says it's time for parents to wake up and realize
all youths are at risk of becoming drug addicts.

Peggy Strife, who lives in a $400,000 home in a good neighbourhood,
has been grappling with her 20-year-old son Brad's crystal meth
addiction for the past several years.

"I'm waiting for him to die," said Strife about her son, who she
still fears losing to substance abuse.

Strife and her spouse lived through their own period of denial about
what drugs were doing to Brad. She doesn't want to see anyone else
ignore the problem.

Strife disapproves of recent letters to the editor in the Herald
where people have expressed opposition to building a youth treatment
centre here.

"We have a high drug rate here and people don't want to admit it," Strife said.

When Strife was cruising the streets with a baseball bat, attempting
to stop her son from finding and using meth, she rarely tracked down
her son in areas like the West Flat, which she says tend to be
associated with substance abuse issues.

"A lot of the houses I was at were on the East and West hills," said
Strife. She estimated that there were six youth drug dealers within a
five-block radius of her upper-class home.

Strife recently appealed to city council, saying that the youth
treatment centre is "very much" needed in the city because drugs are
hurting children and youth from all cultures and socioeconomic
backgrounds. City council recently approved rezoning of land near
Victoria Hospital, with plans to build the centre there.

She also suggested that Prince Albert set up some transitional
housing for addicted youths to get back up on their feet.