THOUGHTFUL DIALOGUE ABOUT DETOX CENTRE IN ORDER

The coincidental appearance of two "drug" stories on the front page of the
Advocate last Friday may offer an opportunity to begin a thoughtful dialogue
about addictions and how Red Deer will respond to this problem in our midst.

The smaller story, which I shall comment on first, consisted mostly of
negative reaction to the proposed location, the Scott Block, for the detox
centre/shelter which I am charged with bringing into existence for the Safe
Harbour Society.

This story followed on the heels of a similar negative article printed with
big headlines the previous day.

As part of a delegation from the Safe Harbour Society holding consultations
with neighbours of our proposed centre, I had heard the opposing opinions
expressed earlier in the week. I also heard a tremendous amount of anger and
frustration about the existing situation in the alley behind the Scott
Block, and frequent expressions of resentment about the methadone clinic
down the street which is perceived as contributing to the problem.

The merchants' frustration is entirely understandable. They have invested
substantial money in their businesses and in their hopes to revitalize the
downtown core; they justifiably see the drug use and drug dealing that goes
on in the alley behind them as a blight on the downtown and a detriment to
their businesses.

Unfortunately, our proposal to locate a detox centre/shelter in the Scott
Block has become a lightning rod for merchants' frustration with the "big
city problems" that already exist around them in the downtown. No doubt if
our centre was already in operation, we would be blamed, like the methadone
clinic, for "attracting" the problem.

But we can't be blamed now: we aren't there and the problems are.

The "big" story on Friday's front page had a bold headline asking: Winning
the war on drugs in city? and a sub-headline that stated: Police believe
summer campaign has scared dealers away. This story dealt with increased
police drug enforcement, a dramatic increase in the number of drug charges
laid, and the relatively insignificant amount of drugs being found in recent
busts. The small amount of drugs being seized and an eight per cent decrease
in property crime over a year ago, were attributed to drug dealers being
"scared away" by stepped-up police activity.

Although, at first glance this story may not appear related to the previous
one, a closer look at the circumstances behind both stories shows that they
are intimately connected.

First let me thank the police for their increasing vigilance in pursuing
drug dealers and congratulate them on their success in doing it. Secondly,
let me suggest that there is another factor at play in the crime statistics
that needs to be taken into consideration: the existence of the
often-maligned Central Alberta Methadone Program.

Methadone treatment allows persons with addictions to replace an illegal
addictive drug, purchased at high-cost from drug dealers, with an
alternative, non-intoxicating addictive drug - methadone - legally obtained
at low cost and used with medical supervision.

As more persons with addictions enter the methadone-treatment program, they
remove from the drug marketplace the demand for the illegal drugs they were
using before they began treatment.

Fewer drugs on the streets, fewer dealers, and reduced property crime are
exactly the results you would predict from the controlled and successful
operation of a methadone treatment program, and these are precisely the
findings of Friday's main front-page story.

Unfortunately, even though many people become sick of the addicted lifestyle
and seek to escape it through detox and treatment or through methadone
maintenance, there seems to be an unlimited supply of new individuals from
every socioeconomic class willing to experiment with severely addictive
drugs.

Sadly, many of these experimenters will get hooked and become the next
generation of addicts needing detox and treatment.

Like methadone maintenance, shelter and detox represent the means whereby
some of these lives, shattered by addiction, can be reclaimed, and
individuals restored to health and productivity. The challenge for the
community is finding the best location for this to take place.

With our proposal, the Scott Block will undergo a substantial building
upgrade, costing around $300,000, and the Gaetz Avenue streetscape will be
much enhanced with an attractive new retail space in the front of the
building. The alley behind the Scott Block will be made safer because of
improved lighting and the presence of staff on duty 24 hours per day. There
are many other merits to our proposal and good reasons why it fits in the
Scott Block.

Suffice it to say that agencies providing services in the downtown to
persons with drug or alcohol addiction are part of the solution to Red
Deer's addition problems; they are not part of the problem.

Much of the problem downtown is created by bars that are too big, that sell
too much booze to too many people and then turn them out on the street in
large numbers at the same time.

The drug dealing that goes on inside some of the bars, and in their parking
lots is another facet of the same problem. Untreated mental illness and
homelessness are also contributing factors.

In Friday's detox centre story, one very vocal opponent is quoted as
believing there is "more (drug) activity on the street," and implies that it
is somehow connected to the methadone clinic. Yet the "big story" about
drugs on the same page completely refutes that belief.

Similarly, before it was built, there were many dire predictions from
neighbouring merchants about the John Howard Society's proposed half-way
house in the old Park Hotel. Yet, in Saturday's Advocate, police were quoted
as stating: ". . . there have been no complaints from neighbouring retailers
about that facility."

It may be the case once again that "fear of the unknown" is causing a
negative misperception about what our centre will mean for Gaetz Avenue.

I think it was Mark Twain who said: "It ain't the things ya don't know that
get ya into trouble, nearly so much as the things you know - that ain't so."

In terms of how and where to best respond to problems associated with
addictions in Red Deer, let the dialogue begin.

* Jim Taylor is Project Development Manager for the Safe Harbour Society.
The opinions expressed are his own, and do not necessarily reflect the views
of the board of the Safe Harbour Society.