DRUG FACILITY PLANNED

A city task force is planning to build an integrated drug recovery centre
beside Surrey Memorial Hospital in the next two years. The 22,000-sq.ft.
building will include a detox facility with up to 12 beds, residents'
services, employment services and a treatment area.

The Leader has learned that a planning group with Surrey's drug-crime task
force will be making a presentation to city council in the coming weeks,
detailing the services offered at the $4-million facility, which will be
located in the 13600-block of 94A Ave. Coun. Dianne Watts, who chairs the
task force, confirmed Tuesday that the project is in the works.

She pointed out that the plan is in the early stages and could take up to
two years to build, emphasizing the facility is essential to providing
adequate addiction care in Surrey.

"We don't have any treatment facilities in the entire city, and we don't
have a comprehensive treatment where where we can help people from the time
they enter treatment all the way through," Watts said.

She couldn't say how much public money is involved in the project. "It's
tough to say, they (the planning group) are looking at different partners."

The city recently unveiled a drug strategy that includes enforcement,
education, prevention and treatment.

Michael Wilson, a member of the treatment centre planning group, says the
new facility will bring huge advances to drug treatment in Surrey.

Wilson, who runs three drug and alcohol recovery homes in the city, is also
working on a PhD on the delivery of public systems, such as the city's drug
treatment facility.

"We need resources to deal with early prevention and intervention with
kids, we need to look at some of the enforcement-related issues ... and
similarly we need to look at what we can do from our side (dealing with
recovery)."

Watts said one of the benefits of the treatment facility is that it's right
beside Surrey Memorial Hospital.

Wilson agrees, adding the new facility should help alleviate the pressures
on the emergency wards that experience a high incidence of alcohol- and
drug-related cases.

Wilson said there aren't any Lower Mainland facilities like the one planned
for Surrey, but some are in the works for Vancouver. Funding for the
project, and its ongoing operating costs, is expected to come from the
private sector, the Fraser Health Authority, and the province and federal
government.