PUSH IS ON FOR DETOX BEDS FOR TEENAGERS

A lack of help for young girls facing drug addiction, homelessness and
prostitution has prompted a local committee to develop a 10-bed treatment
centre in Abbotsford.

Uultsje DeJong, chairman of the group Discover, Re-Energize And Move
Forward, said there is currently only six to eight treatment beds available
for youth in the Lower Mainland.

"In the Fraser health region alone we have 1.2 or 1.3 million people," he
said. "[The lack of beds] just doesn't make sense. Weekly I get calls from
parents or grandparents who say, 'Where can my son or daughter or grand
daughter go? They want to get help.' I want to tell them a place . . . but
there's just no help."

DeJong said DREAM is going to focus on female youth because they often turn
to prostitution to feed their drug habits.

"That's one of the growing concerns we have," he said. "More and more the
younger girls are turning up on the streets."

DREAM members are beginning to meet with other community groups for support
and DeJong said they will be lobbying the federal government for funding in
September.

"The Fraser Valley doesn't really get anything out of Ottawa," he said. "We
have a homeless issue, a drug issue, a prostitution issue. It's time we
start getting support for this."

DREAM will hold a fundraiser next year and DeJong said ideally he'd like
the treatment centre to be built in the near future.

"We could use a place to start dealing with this problem," he said.

For more details or to help support the committee e-mail uultsje_dejong@
sd34.bc.ca.