UULTSJE ON MISSION TO HELP ADDICTS

Uultsje DeJong is on a mission. He wants to build a detoxification
and drug treatment facility for youth in Abbotsford and he wants the
community to get behind the vision.

As the chairman for the Abbotsford Coalition for Crime Prevention and
Drug Treatment steering committee, DeJong already has a few ideas to
consider.

"We could start a trust fund, perhaps through the Abbotsford
Foundation, to put some money on hold now, to start the ball
rolling," he said.

He also wants the Fraser Health Authority to consider including a
detox and treatment facility in its plans for the new Fraser Valley
Health Centre on Marshall Road.

"We're trying to convince whoever is going to make the final decision
on the hospital to put a detox on the hospital grounds. If it's a
private-public partnership, we're hoping it could be run by a
non-profit agency," DeJong said Tuesday.

To air such ideas and to inspire the community to get involved, the
detox committee is holding a public meeting where people can discuss
issues surrounding drug abuse, including prostitution and related
street crime, at a meeting April 10 in downtown Abbotsford.

"It will be a way for people to vent, but people can also find out
how to get involved and be part of the solution," said, DeJong who
wants to see discussion on what actually can be done.

"It's only going to succeed if the community gets involved. We can
work as a small organization and push and push, but when the
community gets behind it, then things really start happening," DeJong
said.

DeJong, who is also the executive director of the restorative justice
association, said the need is real and immediate.

As of April, detox beds in Vancouver region will be restricted to
people in the coastal health area. A small privately owned treatment
centre in Langley for young women is closing this month.

"That will leave 22 beds at Maple Cottage (in New Westminster) for
everyone else. Of those three are set aside for youth. That's
unacceptable. We owe it to our young people to something. It's not
acceptable to say 'Sorry, we tried,' and then not do any more," said
DeJong.

People in Abbotsford don't have to look far to find examples of teens
and young adults falling through the cracks.

Recently, a coroner's ruling on a the drug-related death of a young
Abbotsford woman, Christena Constible, advised the province that more
detox and treatment facilities were crucial in dealing with young
addicts.

DeJong hopes to see people from around the community at the meeting
because drug addiction affects everyone, not just the addicts, he
said.

Sex trade workers, almost always hooked on illegal drugs like cocaine
and heroin, are evident on street corners at either end of town.
Property crime, which rose about 25 per cent in the past year in the
city according to Abbotsford police, also has a close relationship
with drug abuse.

"Someone in Abbotsford will lose some of their property so the young
man's habit can be fed. The young girl who is someone's daughter,
someone's granddaughter, will turn 10 tricks tonight because her
uncontrollable appetite tells her she needs those drugs to survive,"
DeJong wrote in a presentation to a parliamentary panel on drug abuse
in December.

DeJong and the committee may have some hurdles. There is the issue of
money. Another impediment is that no one volunteers to have a
treatment centre in their neighborhood.

In the coming months, the Abbotsford council will be considering a
"P-zone" bylaw that may restrict areas in which treatment facilities
could be located.

Groups who will be represented at the public meeting include the
school board, the chamber of commerce, the Abbotsford Downtown
Business Association, the Salvation Army and others.