ROAD TO RECOVERY AT TURNING POINT

Dave doesn't look like a typical crack addict. A tennis instructor and
university graduate, he started smoking crack about a year-and-a-half
ago.

It didn't take long to hit bottom. Before he decided to get clean, he
was virtually homeless and had been in jail twice.

"I didn't sleep on the streets or in a box or anything like that," he
says. "But I was homeless. I had people after me because I owed them
money."

Now 80 days clean and sober, he credits the Turning Point recovery
house in Richmond for helping him stay clean and relearn basic life
skills. Without it, he says: "I'd still be on the streets."

"One of the biggest obstacles to long-term recovery is supportive
housing," says Brenda Plant, executive director of Turning Point
Recovery Society.

The society wants to expand its Richmond facilities by adding 40 beds
of supportive and second-stage housing at 8180 Ash St. on the site of
a former group home for troubled teens.

"It will be controversial," said Jack Clerkson, the consultant
handling the proposal. "It already is."

Then again, so was the Odlin Road house when Turning Point first
occupied it in 1999.

"There was a large public outcry when we moved here," Plant said. "We
have been a good neighbour since we've been here."

Of the 2,000-plus clients who have passed though Turning Point's doors
in its Richmond and Vancouver facilities over the last 25 years, the
society estimates 75 per cent were still clean and sober a year after
they left.

Steve is one of them. A former drunk and drug addict, he has been
clean and sober for more than six years and now makes a living as a
golf pro.

After hitting bottom and doing out-patient treatment, the born and
raised Richmondite came to the Odlin Road home in 2001 and stayed for
three months. He said he needed Turning Point's supportive environment
to help him reintegrate.

"A lot of the first year is about taking care of the wreckage," he
said. "My finances were a mess. It was like doing everything for the
first time."

The nine-bed Odlin Road home is one of three homes operated by Turning
Point. The other two are in Vancouver.

Participants typically stay for up to three months. They take turns
cooking and all have chores. They attend daily 12 Step meetings and
also take lifestyles workshops. Unlike a structured treatment centre,
Turning Point offers the freedom to come and go during the day.

Plant says there are no safe injection facilities and no methadone
patients at Turning Point's recovery houses.

Turning Point's $6.2-million expansion plan calls for three new
buildings on Ash Street. It includes two two-storey homes to be used
as supportive housing -- one for men and one for women. Clients would
typically stay up to three months.

Another 20-bed "second-stage" apartment-style housing centre would
offer longer-term support. Clients would stay for up to a year in
self-contained studio apartments. They would be required to work or be
in school and attend regular 12 Step meetings. There would be a
live-in centre manager.

Neighbours of the proposed expansion worry about having recovering
addicts living next door to them, and just one block from an
elementary school. They say they had several bad experiences with the
teen group home that used to operate there.

But the irony, according to supporters of the recovery centre, is that
society in general is safer when addicts and alcoholics get help than
when they are left to their own devices.

Richmond RCMP Supt. Ward Clapham said supportive recovery like that
offered by Turning Point is critical to fighting drug addiction and
the crime that results from it.

"Richmond RCMP believe the only way to truly reduce crime and disorder
is by tackling problems at the root and engaging in a long-term,
holistic approach," Clapham said. "Housing, treatment and recovery are
all major factors if we are really going to solve the problem.

"Those recovering from addiction need our support -- otherwise, they
may fall back into a cycle of addiction and possible crime and disorder."

Every dollar spent on recovery pays huge dividends, Plant said --
about $6,000 to $12,000 per year in policing and health-care costs for
every person who stays clean.

"We had a guy last year who, in the six months preceding his arrival
at Turning Point, had been to emergency 18 times," Plant said. "I am
happy to report he is a working, contributing member of society."

Turning Point's proposal will require rezoning, which is expected to
go forward in the fall. For more information on the proposal, visit
www.turningpointrecovery.com. For information on neighbourhood
concerns, visit www.tprs.info.