drug-test-passing

PARENTS STRUGGLE WITH LACK OF ADDICTION TREATMENT

Chris Uttley's heart has been broken more than once by her addicted child.

But her grief reached new depths last weekend, when her 16-year-old daughter was found in a north Edmonton drug flophouse, veins coursing with morphine and OxyContin, otherwise known as hillbilly heroin.

The street 'graduation' from meth to intravenous drugs dramatically increases her daughter's risk of contracting HIV and hepatitis, not to mention the complications it will pitch into any further addiction recovery.  Uttley is at the end of her rope.

"We need more treatment facilities for youth," she pleaded Monday.

Uttley and other parents' involvement in Sherwood Park-based Parents Empowering Parents ( PEP ) is acknowledged by Red Deer MLA Mary-Anne Jablonski as a key factor in getting the government to pass the Protection of Children Abusing Drugs Act.  But PEP hasn't yet reached its simple goal of seeing more publicly funded long-term treatment beds for children.

Uttley held hope for a brief while just weeks ago.  Her daughter was in AADAC treatment for crystal meth addiction.  She was supposed to be clean.  Then it all came crashing down.

"She told me she had been using the whole time," Uttley said.

Shortly after Uttley heard that news, her daughter disappeared into Edmonton.

Uttley goes to Sherwood Park for support because nothing like PEP exists in St.  Albert.  At the meetings she gets support and advice from a counsellor, a probation officer and as many as 50 parents dealing with the same issues and lobbying the province for help.

AADAC has announced plans to open four additional detox beds and eight residential treatment beds this summer, but the children of the PEP parents alone could fill those spots twice over.  AADAC director of youth services Marilyn Mitchell acknowledged there is a demand for the new programming, but couldn't say whether it will exceed the space available in the new beds.

"We'll have that conversation six months down the road.  I would hope that it's enough ...  but on other side I would be naive not to say we've been looking for these resources," Mitchell said.

The new beds are specifically dedicated to children aged 12 to 17 and are accompanied by new programming specific to the needs of crystal meth addicts.  An equal number of spaces are also being opened in Calgary and more have been planned for other parts of the province.

PEP board member Gordon Daniher has the background to provide moral support, if nothing else, to parents like Uttley.  His 17-year-old daughter started using drugs at age 12.  Daniher found her using marijuana first and he put her into an inner-city Edmonton program for kids with behavioural problems.  That experience only deepened his daughter's exposure to those involved in crime and drugs.

"They taught her to run [drugs], they taught her how to hide in apartments and they taught her how to buy drugs," he said.  "She was trained to survive downtown."

Daniher says if he could go back in time, he would never have put his daughter in the program, which he declined to name.  Now, he has to deal with the mounting costs of private addiction treatment.  Though they are subsidized by the government, the Daniher family still pays a significant portion of the $52,000 cost of her current program.

"She wants to [clean up].  Several times she has tried different things, but she also has an abuser who keeps bringing her back, going back and picking her up in his car to bring her back to the streets.  That's pretty tough."

His daughter hasn't succeeded in AADAC programs available to date -- but she has hit "rock bottom" or "the wall." She was raped by her drug-dealing boyfriend.  Daniher and his wife admitted some relief it happened, because the experience drove their daughter back home and into treatment.

Daniher was encouraged at the AADAC announcement, but still felt more needs to be done.

"If you took our legislators and had one or two them that have chased their kids downtown, that have watched others get buried, it might change a bit," he said.

St.  Albert Mayor Paul Chalifoux has been approached by a handful of parents, Uttley included, who are dealing with addicted children.  Their stories have sold him on the need for the city to lead a community response.

Since hearing from the parents he has spoken with Capital Health Authority Medical Officer of Health Dr.  Gerry Predy and, at the invitation of Spruce Grove-Sturgeon-St.  Albert Tory MLA Doug Horner, observed a Spruce Grove workshop to identify gaps in services for troubled youth.  Last week, Chalifoux directed St.  Albert Family and Community Support Services to request Horner assist them in organizing a similar forum in St.  Albert.

"It's the whole community's awareness.  I don't think it has penetrated the whole community," Chalifoux said.  "We've got to strengthen that awareness and identify the gaps."