MORE MONEY TO FIGHT METH

The city's addiction counselling centre will get $200,000 annually to
hire a full-time staffer to help meth addicts get their lives back
together and fund a withdrawal management program.

The provincial funding, announced yesterday afternoon at Choices for Change:
Alcohol, Drug and Gambling Counseling Centre, will allow addicts access to
withdrawal management services through one-on-one contact with a counsellor.

The funding, through the South-West Local Health Integration Network,
will provide the centre with another much-needed counsellor who can
intensely focus on a problem that has troubled Perth County for
several years.

"One of the things we find with meth clients is they need a lot of
contact," said Choices for Change executive director Catherine
Hardeman. "Having another body will help with that. This person will
be their resource."

The withdrawal program would give addicts access to a designated
worker who can talk to them over the phone or in person. The worker
can assess the types of treatment needed, either at home or in
residential care.

The Grey Bruce Withdrawal Management Centre would provide after-hours
phone care.

Support can also be provided for people in jail, although a social
worker will be hired to provide support in the courts through funding
previously announced by the Perth County Task Force on Meth.

Choices for Change applied for funding from the task force for the
programs, and previously announced details of the withdrawal
management centre last month, but withdrew its application when
funding was announced through the LHIN.

Perth-Wellington MPP John Wilkinson said treatment is one of three
things, along with education and prevention, and enforcement, that a
community needs to do to overcome a drug like meth.

"We have to treat people so they can go back to a normal life. When
they are in a position where they realize they need help, then as a
community we have to be there for them," he said.

Funding will also allow Choices for Change to continue an outreach
program.

The task force, armed with a $1-million grant from the province,
announced other initiatives last month, including hiring a social
worker in the courts and funding for first responders/emergency
responders and an education program for youth in the community.

Stratford Mayor Dan Mathieson said some have questioned why officials
in Stratford would admit to having a meth problem. Now, many
communities are realizing that forming the task force was the best
solution.

"We have garnered recognition for a crystal meth problem. I think it's
safe to say we are now garnering a lot of recognition for having a
community that has developed a strategy to deal with it."