LOCAL YOUTH REHAB CENTRE NEEDED, SAYS FEATHERSTONE

At least one out of 10 teenagers in Alberta has a substance abuse problem,
confirming the need for a local long-term rehab centre for youth, says the
director of the Slim Thorpe Recovery Centre.

Lloydminster Meridian Booster -- At least one out of 10 teenagers in
Alberta has a substance abuse problem, confirming the need for a local
long-term rehab centre for youth, says the director of the Slim Thorpe
Recovery Centre.

The Alberta Alcohol and Drugs Abuse Commission has spent the last
year-and-a-half compiling data on how many youth in the province are using
substances and gambling. It also studied factors that could motivate or
prevent youth involvement with substances and gambling. It cost AADAC
$250,000, and the results are finally in.

"We have not had this kind of information for a decade and we need it, it's
a gap," said AADAC research manager Art Dyer. "We finally scratched
together enough cash and the staffing to put it together and did it."

Out of 39 school divisions in Alberta, 89 schools with 3,394 students in
Grades 7 to 12 participated in the survey.

The goal of the survey was to get an accurate view of adolescents as they
are, and anticipating the adults they may become. Because trends in
substance abuse and gambling change fast and are more prevalent in certain
cities and towns, it is necessary to accurately measure the changes.

Once they were able to determine the extent of teens using substances and
gambling, they were able to look at what, if anything, could be done to
prevent trends from recurring, according to the Alberta Youth Experience
Survey.

The survey found that current Alberta adolescent substance abuse and
gambling is comparably low to other provinces such as Ontario and Nova
Scotia, but is typical to other North American patterns.

Alcohol was found to be the most frequently used substance =AD 56.3 per
cent of adolescents in Grades 7 to 12 have drank at least once in the last
12 months. Cannabis and hashish are the next most used substance at 27.6
per cent and then cigarettes at 16.2 per cent.

Results also show 41.2 per cent of Alberta youth have gambled at least once
in the past 12 months.

"We deal with people who have a problem," said Craig Featherstone, director
of Slim Thorpe Recovery Centre. "The more we can connect with the youth the
lower the numbers we'll get. Is it ever completely going to go away? No,
that's why we see the need for a youth centre."

The Thorpe centre has been developing a plan to build a long-term rehab
facility for youth who have serious addictions. The concept is still in the
planning stages, but Featherstone has pondered its existence. He envisions
a farm house out of town with a large yard.

"Thirteen per cent of kids meet the criteria for harmful or hazardous use,
hazardous use is drinking daily and harmful use goes up from there," said
Dyer. "Nine per cent of kids gambling fall into the hazardous to harmful
category."

The survey studied a variety of factors that could lead teenagers to
involvement with substances or gambling. These risks were separated into
risk and protective categories. Some of the risk factors include age, peer
risk behaviour, family history of substance abuse, family problems and poor
father's support. Some of the protective factors include parental
monitoring, social skills, participation in pro-social activities and
school marks.

"This survey will help track prevalent trends in youth which is very
important for programming and assessing need," said Ed Swaka, director of
research services at AADAC. "Hopefully this is the first study in a series
of many to come."