MEETING BETRAYS NIMBY ATTITUDE

On Thursday, April 3, I attended what in my estimation was the closest
thing I could imagine to the Salem Witch Trials.

This inquisition was held at Kelly Creek Community School and had to do
with the opposition of some community members to the development of a
treatment facility for chemically dependent persons--referred to by most of
the persons attending the meeting as "those" or "these" people.

Some background: About one year ago the prospective operator approached me
asking for my input in developing a treatment program. I gave some
suggestions and did not hear anymore until about two months ago. I was
again asked for a meeting and again I provided suggestions such as program
content, staffing, regulations and security et cetera. I was also contacted
by two area residents who were voicing their concern over the development
of this proposed treatment program.

In essence what I told both parties was that if a treatment program for
addictions was run properly, it would succeed and the community wouldn't
even know it was there. If it was not run properly, it would fail.

At first I must admit I was skeptical. However, after attending this
meeting and upon hearing the prospective operator state that the facility
intended to meet community care licensing requirements, and have the
program accredited by a recognized accreditation organization which
specializes in rehabilitative programs, my fears were alleviated.

What really upset me about this gathering was the general lack of
understanding about substance abuse, its treatment and the term "those
people," referring to people with addictions.

* "Those people" are your neighbours, co-workers and civic leaders.

* "Those people" have an illness. In my 23 years working in this field I
have yet to meet anyone who woke up one morning and said: "I know what I
want to be when I'm older--an addict."

* "Those people" come from all walks of life, from every religion and every
race. Addiction is an equal opportunity employer.

If that meeting represented a sample of the community and we applied the
national substance abuse statistics to it they would look something like
this: of the approximately 60 people in attendance, 10 per cent (six)
people would not use any substances. Of the 54 remaining people 10 per cent
(five) would have an addiction. Of the remaining 49 people seven per cent
(three) use alcohol and drugs in amounts that put them at risk for
developing addiction.

Other than the woman who disclosed her addiction to the group, there were
seven of "those people" sitting among the group members. Could anyone spot
them?

I have worked in treatment centres across Canada and one in the United
States. One of the centres, located in Halifax, dealt with military and
RCMP members.

Another centre located in the Glebe, an affluent neighbourhood in downtown
Ottawa, was an 18-bed, all-male facility where at any one time we had two
residents from Federal Corrections in Kingston. The other residents
consisted of people on income assistance. Located across the street was an
elementary school. The rest of the neighbourhood consisted of embassies and
well-to-do people. Not once did we have problems which affected the
surrounding neighbourhood.

In Maple Ridge, the treatment centre blends in so well with the community
that I drove past it approximately five times on the day of my job
interview. We never had any problems there either.

The last thing I would like to say is that I would be more than willing to
meet with any community group who would like to discuss the issue of a
treatment facility constructively. I doubt, however, that this will happen,
because it is not really about the treatment centre but in my estimation
about NIMBY (not in my backyard).