METH HELP CALLED FOR

Drug Addicts' Families Want More Provincial Programs

Relatives of meth and crack addicts are echoing a heartbroken
husband's call for the province to do more to help those ravaged by
drugs.

Michael Butler, whose wife was found brutally slain in the couple's
Edmonton home last week and whose drug-addicted brother is facing
charges in the shocking murder, said there weren't enough government
resources to deal with his brother's out-of-control addictions.

"He's right," said Edmonton mom Christine Beaton, 59.

"There's nothing here to force a person into treatment. They have to
want it, but some of them are down too low to make that decision
themselves. The law has to take over. We should be able to put them
away like Alberta Hospital (for mental health problems)."

Beaton's 34-year-old son, who she didn't want to identify, is
currently in a residential treatment centre in Quebec, where he is
being treated for a crack cocaine addiction.

Quebec Program Costly

She said she shelled out nearly $21,000 for the three-month program,
but she's optimistic.

"It is expensive, but it's worth it if it works," she said, noting
that an employee from the program conducted an intervention and
convinced her son to go to Quebec.

"I thought I could help him myself and so did my late husband, but we
just couldn't."

Beaton said her son made up to $1,500 a week as an electrical mechanic
in the oilfields. She estimates he ended up spending more than
$250,000 on his habit.

"Everything went to his drugs," she said.

Her son went through several shorter programs at local treatment
centres, but they didn't work, she said.

Beaton sympathizes with families who can't afford to send their loved
ones to Quebec.

She said the Alberta government must do more to quell a growing
epidemic.

"With the amount of money coming into this province, they have to do
something here," she added.

"Just about every crime is drug-related. So it's costing the province
more money that way."

Meanwhile, Sarah Gerzanich would love to get her crystal meth-addicted
brother Steven Kotaska the help he needs, but he won't go willingly.

"I need to get him committed involuntarily," said Gerzanich,
29.

Parents can force their children between 12 and 17 years of age into a
five-day detox program under the Protection of Children Abusing Drugs
Act that went into effect last July, but there are no provisions to
force adults into detox.

And even if Kotaska, 25, did agree to go and get assessed, Gerzanich
said there's no guarantee a bed would be available.

In the fall of 2005, meth drove Kotaska to such despair that he drank
gasoline, doused himself with it and lit himself on fire.

He was left with third-degree burns to more than 50% of his
body.

Kotaska was put on a waiting list for a residential treatment program,
but he relapsed shortly after he was released from hospital.

Begging For Next Fix

These days, Kotaska spends his days panhandling on Whyte Avenue to pay
for his next fix and his nights at the Herb Jamieson men's shelter.

Gerzanich said she sees her brother - along with nearly 40 other drug
users and addicts - almost every day at the Old Strathcona Youth
Co-op, where she works as a housing and employment
co-ordinator.

Through her work with high-risk and homeless youth 14 to 24 years of
age, Gerzanich said she believes there are nowhere near enough
resources to tackle the drug epidemic.

And her brother is running out of time.

"My brother is so beyond gone. He's emaciated and sick," Gerzanich
said.

"It's almost like he's catatonic at times, just staring. The only time
he's remotely happy or talkative is when he's high. There's no life in
him. He's existing for drugs. He's waiting for the end."