FIGHTING ADDICTION

Rehab Program Graduates 31

21-year-old credits Portage New brunswick with helping him break a
pattern of addiction that started in junior high

Chris MacNeil is feeling better today than he has felt in years.

Thanks to Portage New Brunswick, the 21-year-old is well on his way to
beginning a new drug-free life.

Mr. MacNeil is one of 31 young people recognized on Sunday for
successfully completing the Portage New Brunswick program at Cassidy
Lake.

Of those, 14 young people graduated from the program after completing
a one-year transitional program, where they learned social skills, how
to reintegrate into the community and how to deal with their addiction
outside of Portage.

Mr. MacNeil, who's been clean for seven months, expects to graduate in
two months.

Portage New Brunswick is a residential treatment facility for young
people between the ages of 14 and 21 that helps them kick booze and
drugs for good by combining group therapy, peer support, counselling,
schoolwork, sports and discipline.

"It's the best thing that ever happened to me," said Mr. MacNeil. "It
completely changed my outlook on life and raised my self-esteem.

"I have strong values and beliefs now and an improved relationship
with my family. I have everything going for me that I never thought I
could have."

Mr. MacNeil's drug dependency began in junior high school when he used
alcohol, marijuana, LSD and mescaline to escape boredom.

In Grade 9, he got into dilaudid, morphine and Valium. At one point,
he was spending $4,000 a week on pills. If he didn't have a fix, he
would become physically ill with diarrhea, vomiting, chills and body
aches.

"After four or five months, I had them every day, so I didn't really
realize how addicted I was. It got to the point when I'd wake up, I'd
need to have a hit. If you didn't have your fix as soon as you woke
up, you'd be really sick."

Looking back, Mr. MacNeil has decided getting stoned wasn't really
very much fun. "But at the time, it felt really good.

"It's like a state of euphoria, like you're in a dream. Then you start
nodding off. When you don't have it, you can't sleep, your whole
body's aching. It destroys your body, wears you down."

When he was addicted, Mr. MacNeil, who's five foot 11, weighed about
110 pounds. Today, he weighs 165 pounds.

Geordie Gould, interim director of the Cassidy Lake facility, has been
working with Portage for 10 years.

Beyond addictions, he said the young people who go through the program
all have "an inability to manage their emotions."

"They come in here extraordinary manipulators and they have to
redevelop trust and honesty."

One of the most important components of the program is that it is
voluntary, he said.

There are no fences and "there's no running after anybody."

Of the approximately 45 beds, 16 are funded by the Department of
Public Safety and 20 by the Department of Health. The remainder are
allocated for other Atlantic Provinces.