HELP FOR YOUNG ADDICTS, AT A COST

Terri Padavell is not surprised at the number of local youth who end up
addicted to drugs.

"Drugs are easier to get than alcohol for people under age 19," says
Padavell, director of addiction services at the Lower Mainland Purpose
Society for Youth and Families. "They're easy to access, they're in our
schools, they're everywhere."

And not only are they readily available, designer drugs such as Ecstasy and
crystal methamphetamine provide a cheap and lasting high.

"Addiction does not discriminate," she said, noting addicts come from all
ethnic and socio-economic backgrounds.

At the same time, there is a shortage of addictions treatment facilities,
particularly for youth and most especially for teenaged girls suffering from
addictions.

In response, the New Westminster-based Purpose Society has established a new
five-bed residential treatment centre in Burnaby specifically aimed at girls
aged 14 to 18. Padavell said their research found nothing otherwise
available for that group, particularly young women who have not become
involved with the criminal justice system. Peak House, a co-ed facility for
youth, exists in Vancouver but is consistently wait-listed, a challenge
when, to have a good chance of success, addicts need help soon after they
decide they want it, she said.

"We just wanted something for young women," she said. "The dynamic changes
when a young man enters the room ... Young women tend to lose their voices,
there are issues they might not be willing to talk about with young men in
the room."

But The Cedars - named for the grounded, rooted, growing cedar trees in
front of the facility - doesn't come cheap. Unlike most other treatment
facilities, it doesn't receive any government funding. As a result, without
such a subsidy, clients pay $200 a day for the three-month, live-in program.
Padavell stressed Purpose Society "will try to work with people" regarding
financing.

The Cedars is staffed 24 hours a day and uses a holistic approach to dealing
with addictions, including group and individual counselling, support for
family, teaching of life skills, promotion of health and fitness and
community service activities. They'll also have access to Purpose's
alternative high school "when they're ready."

The key to successful treatment and to preventing the cycle from recurring
is to address those issues and behaviours that the addicts are using drugs
or alcohol to mask, Padavell said. For instance, it's "quite common" for
girls with eating disorders to try drugs in an attempt to lose weight. Drug
use can also stem from abuse issues or depression among other factors.

The importance of dealing with the root causes of addiction became clear for
Erin during treatment for her drug and alcohol abuse. "It's all feelings,"
said the 19-year-old, who asked that her last name not be used. "I'd get
loaded because I'd feel sad. I didn't cope with life."

Erin says she started using heroin, crack cocaine and alcohol when she was
11 or 12, through people she knew at school. "It was easy to get and I grew
up in an environment where drugs were always around."

By age 15, "everything was falling apart, I was fighting with my dad,
running away ... I was just tired." That's when she decided she needed to go
clean.

She had been in and out of school, and it was through talking to teachers at
one school that she was able to get into detox. Unfortunately, after
cleaning up with a stint at Maple Cottage, she simply went back to school,
with no other treatment.

She relapsed and returned to detox. This time, she remembers "begging" staff
there for help, telling them, "I don't know how to keep

clean."

She says she lucked out and was able to enter Peak House within days of
leaving detox. She was kicked out of that two-month residential treatment
program for using drugs again, but was eventually readmitted after she
committed herself to going straight. From there, she was sent to a women's
recovery house where she was able to further benefit from a supportive
environment. "I can talk about certain things."

Now 19, Erin has been clean for nine months. And while she said it "kinda
sucks" that everyone can't benefit from government-funded treatment as she
did, she believes people will pay for a program such as The Cedars.

Drug addiction is too difficult to beat on a person's own, especially for
young people, she said. "I never actually got clean until I was in a safe
place."