FORCED REHAB SEES 100TH TEEN CLIENT

The 100th teenager legally forced by a parent or guardian to seek
drug treatment recently passed through the doors of the province's
only short-term youth drug stabilization unit.

In June 2006, the Manitoba Legislative Assembly passed the Youth Drug
Stabilization Act, giving parents the power to seek a court order
commanding their drug-addicted kids into programming to dry them out
long enough to convince them to seek longer term help for their problem.

Since the Act came into effect in November, a little more than 100
teenagers have been ordered into the program, with the 100th entering
the program last month.

"What has been surprising is the number of kids who come in and
recognize they're in need of help. We anticipated a lot of kids
fighting the idea that they needed treatment," said Ian Hughes,
executive director of Marymound, the non-profit organization that
runs the five-bed unit on Mayfair Avenue in Fort Rouge. "They're
using a whole range of drugs but the top two have pretty consistently
been marijuana and alcohol. Cocaine is starting to catch up, but it's
still not as much as those two."

LAST RESORT

In order to get a court order forcing their child into the program,
parents must prove that they have made previous efforts to get the
teen into treatment programs offered by the Addictions Foundation of
Manitoba and other agencies.

This new program was introduced by the government as a last resort
for parents who have already tried unsuccessfully with other
programming and are at their wit's end.

Kids can be held at the detox unit up to seven days, with three
opportunities to be released. The first two are assessments done by
addictions specialists within the first two days of being admitted.
If the counsellor thinks the teen doesn't need to be there, he or she
can send them home. The third option is that the teen can legally
appeal the order.

About one third of referred teens have been discharged in one of
these ways, said Hughes.

Of the remaining two thirds who completed the week, about 60% have
agreed to go on to long-term treatment, he said.

The bulk of the kids have come from Winnipeg, with a handful coming
from Brandon and western Manitoba. Only a few have come from the north.