NO BEDS FOR ADDICTS IN SURREY

Surrey is home to a large number of drug addicts, yet there is no
detox facility in this city.

That will change in about 18 months time when the Fraser Health
Authority relocates Maple Cottage, a 22-bed detox centre formerly
located in New Westminster, to Surrey.

"That's not enough," said Surrey Mayor Doug McCallum Friday. "That's
just moving existing beds. We welcome Maple Cottage, but 18 months is
a long way. What we're looking for are new beds in Surrey."

Lois Dixon is the Surrey health services director for the health
authority. She said the 22 beds at Maple Cottage are all the detox
beds there are for the entire region from Burnaby to Boston Bar and
the 1.4 million who live there. Getting more, she said, is a high priority.

"The 22 beds we have are inadequate. Ideally, we should have closer to
45 or 50 beds. There is some hope there may be additional funds
available from the federal government," Dixon said.

There are three types of detox: medical, social and home
detox.

Medical detox - like Maple Cottage - involves housing addicts in a
facility staffed by medical professionals who can treat often severe
withdrawal symptoms. "People can become dehydrated; they can even
become psychotic during withdrawal," Dixon said.

Social detox provides a place to live and counselling for those who
can't support themselves financially and don't have a strong network
of family and friends to help them through this crucial step to
shaking addiction.

Those who do have those networks can sometimes go through
detoxification living in their own homes while getting outpatient
medical treatment and counselling.

Dixon said the authority has recently instituted what she called a
chemical dependency resource team at Surrey Memorial Hospital made up
of a social worker and a nurse who, in co-operation with physicians,
try to get addicts who come to the hospital for treatment of physical
ailments started on the road to sobriety.

"They'll approach the addict and see if they might want to do
something about the addiction. They'll try and plant the seed, make
them think about it."

Still, more detox beds are needed, especially for youth. Of the 22
beds available, only three are set aside for young addicts.

"We need to expand on that and get more beds for youth," said Coun.
Dianne Watts. "It's critical. You're dealing with young minds and
bodies and they have a lot of different issues to deal with."

Watts said private detox facilities could be part of the
answer.

"That's a definite option, one we want to explore further to see if we
can do something with the private sector."

Dixon also said the health authority is willing to consider
partnerships to bring more detox beds online.