DETOX CENTRE ESSENTIAL TO MAKE OUR CITY SAFER

Re. the Advocate's Sept. 3 story, headlined Winning the war on drugs:
Police believe summer campaign has scared dealers away.

If Red Deer is winning the war on drugs, then that makes me, and thousands
of other parents, very happy and thankful.

Congratulations to the RCMP street team and to all community members who
provide information to help the RCMP win this ongoing war on drugs.

However, as with any war, there are victims. I'm sure that no person ever
woke up and said to himself or herself: "Today, I'm going to become a drug
addict or perhaps an alcoholic." In fact, the majority of drug
addicts/alcoholics really regret their lifestyle, the tragic wrong turn
they took, and the agony (living hell) they put themselves and their
families through.

At some stage in the disease, drug addicts/alcoholics seek help.

However, in Red Deer, where is the help for addicts/alcoholics who want to
get back on track and become self-sustaining, contributing members of society?

I cannot understand why some downtown businesses are so against a facility
that will help bring a solution to a social problem. Help for an
addict/alcoholic has to be readily accessible in a timely manner with
follow-up services.

At the moment, help for addicts/alcoholics is so unattainable at the street
level and is blatantly wrapped up in red tape at all levels of government.

It's little wonder that a drug addict/alcoholic finds that it's a whole lot
easier to rob a store, mug an unsuspecting citizen, turn a trick, or do
whatever it takes to quickly enable another "fix" instead of getting help.

The provincial government is more concerned with conducting surveys
regarding how many teenagers use nicotine (I guess because it's a legal
drug) than helping teenagers and adults with serious drug habits.

Could that be because the provincial government would have to admit that
there is a serious problem and do something meaningful about it?

From my experience, Red Deer's AADAC is a "hurry-up-and-wait" referral agency.

Let's go one step further after detox: where is the nearest recovery
centre? Well, it's far away (and very expensive): Edmonton, Calgary, Grande
Prairie, Claresholm, Lloydminster, Lethbridge, North Battleford, Sask., and
Vancouver, B.C.

Now get this: in order to gain access to a recovery centre, the
addict/alcoholic has to either go through AADAC, who will try to find a
vacancy (probably three to five weeks waiting time) or the addict/alcoholic
can make his own arrangements (still the same waiting time).

The recovery centre, however, will require the drug addict/alcoholic to go
to a detox centre for seven days immediately prior to admission to the
recovery centre. For a drug addict/alcoholic residing in Red Deer, it's
quite an ordeal to get help. This situation makes Red Deer a desirable
target for drug dealers: a community where unfortunate people are caught in
a Catch-22 system.

This system is insane and a waste of taxpayers' dollars.

Having a detox centre without a recovery centre is like being seriously
injured in a traffic accident, transported to a hospital, stabilized in ER,
then discharged without any follow-up treatment.

A recovery centre with outpatient services helps to create a network for
recovering addicts helping each other keep clean.

Some citizens oppose any kind of help for drug addicts/alcoholics because
they are reluctant to provide any kind of funding. Well, think about this:
addictions, whether they are chemical, gambling or alcohol related drain
our community of millions of dollars each year because there is not
adequate help.

Addictions are associated with homelessness, family violence, bankruptcy,
child abuse, teens who quit school, all kinds of crime, etc. So it's better
to find a solution to addiction rather than letting the problem run rampant.

I met a young man from Nova Scotia, who had worked his way across Canada.
He told me that he had never seen the likes of Red Deer in all his travels
regarding the excessive amount of drugs sold on the streets and in the bars
and clubs.

Low-level street dealers constantly approached him. At one time, a street
dealer was approaching clients entering AADAC. One thing that the general
public doesn't understand is that drug dealing is a multi-level, pyramid
scheme.

I know our city council could find a solution regarding the placement of a
much needed detox centre if it really wanted to. Our city council could
build a much-needed recovery centre instead of a museum estimated at $22
million.

I know one thing that our city councillors could archive, and that's the
rose-coloured glasses they are wearing when they continue to sell this city
as a paradise nestled along the banks of the Red Deer River.

I know that this family got sideswiped about four years ago because we did
not know about the drug situation until it was too late. At that time, not
a mention of drugs was reported in any of the local newspapers or on TV.

This is 2004 and our new city council has to get with the program:
organized crime has its hooks firmly gripped in our community.

What's the use of a museum when our citizens need help and our streets are
becoming more and more dangerous each year? After all, rationalizing rising
crime statistics using the Law of Relativity is ludicrous and is a 100 per
cent cop out (excuse the pun).

How about using some of that $22 million to purchase a police helicopter, a
scanner that reads licence plate numbers and other high-tech inventions,
which would help our police make Red Deer a safer community?

I wonder if Red Deer city councillors have seen the documentary aired on
The National about the extreme efforts provided by Drayton Valley's city
council to help its citizens with the huge drug problem along the Hwy 16
corridor.

Citizens of Red Deer, don't let our city council sit on the fence on this
issue. It's the responsibility of our city council to invest its money in
the future wellness of its citizens and overall community. Nothing but good
things will come out of developing a detox, recovery and outpatient
treatment centre.

Our mayor and city council effectively swept this issue under the carpet
for many years and that is one reason why the problem has escalated unabashed.

Action could have been taken a long time ago.

An election is forthcoming, and if Red Deer is to become a safer place,
then it's imperative that Red Deer have a detox centre, and a recovery
centre with ongoing outpatient services staffed with registered
psychologists and a psychiatrist.

I have heard a lot of motherhood, blanket statements from all the political
platforms - all very flowery, but I haven't heard any definitive action plans.

Any city councillor who opposes community support should have a second look
at this matter. Ask your city councillors where they stand and exactly what
they will do regarding this issue and vote accordingly.

Editor's note: The author is the mother of a Central Alberta teen who is
being treated for substance addiction; her name has been withheld to
protect her child.