TREATMENT CENTRE GETS NOD

A small group of people attended a public hearing this week in support of
an alcohol and drug treatment centre planned near Surrey Memorial Hospital.

The three-storey facility will offer 28 drug and alcohol recovery beds and
36 affordable housing units, with room for expanded services, which may
eventually include an medical clinic.

Seven people spoke at Monday's public hearing, with only one person opposed.

Christine Eden, a local recovery activist, supports proponent Michael
Wilson and his track record of running recovery houses. But Eden is alarmed
that a detox component has been dropped from the plan.

This area, she said, needs a detox facility.

Wilson has told The Leader he had to drop that component temporarily
because he wasn't able to secure funding from the Fraser Health Authority.

The building at 13686 94 A Ave. will have room for a "social detox" (a
stepped-down version of traditional medical detox) if funding is made
available.

The project received unanimous approval from council.

In a separate proposal, the FHA is planning to move Maple Cottage Detox to
Surrey from its temporary location in Burnaby. A number of physicians and
addictions specialists say the weakest link in Surrey's "continuum of
services" is a lack of a local, medically supervised detox.