Canadian Press
SASKATOON -- With the highest rate of alcoholism in the country and dozens of young lives lost to crystal meth addiction, Saskatchewan is embarking on an ambitious plan to battle substance abuse.
Yesterday, Premier Lorne Calvert announced Project Hope, a plan to commit an extra $10-million in new spending in each of the next three years. It's a dramatic jump from the $23-million budgeted this year by Saskatchewan Health for alcohol and drug services.
The money will go to a number of programs, including a new residential youth treatment facility for the northern city of Prince Albert and a leading-edge family centre, possibly in Saskatoon, where addicted parents can be treated without being separated from their children. There's also a new educational agency and a research chair at the University of Saskatchewan.
Project Hope addresses most of the 15 recommendations made in a report by Graham Addley, a Saskatoon NDP member of the legislature who spent six months studying the province's drug and alcohol problems.
But it doesn't answer a growing call to allow forced treatment of young people addicted to crystal methamphetamine, a deadly street drug that is easily produced from ingredients bought at a drugstore or hardware store. Crystal meth has been blamed for at least 10 deaths this year in Saskatoon alone. Mr. Calvert said the government is still studying the issue and will come out with solutions in the fall.
One possibility is legislation allowing parents to force their children into treatment, but Mr. Calvert noted a similar law in Alberta has yet to be proclaimed. As well, constitutional concerns limited the time of forced confinement to only five days -- not enough time to do much more than detoxify.
"We want to both respect all the questions of individual freedom and rights, but at the same time respect that circumstance where a family of a young person or for that matter anyone . . . needs treatment," the NDP Premier said. "We want to ensure that that treatment can be made available."
That's not good enough for Ted Merriman of the Saskatchewan Party, who has campaigned for compulsory treatment for young addicts. Mr. Merriman, whose own daughter is recovering from crystal meth addiction, said it may be the only way to save some lives.
"As a parent, especially if I have a child that's 15 or 16 and I want them treated, if the success rate is only 40 or 50 per cent, I'll take those odds versus no treatment and the fact that I have a 40 or 50 per cent chance that they're going to overdose and kill themselves," he said.
The new Prince Albert treatment centre won't be ready until 2007, and Mr. Merriman predicts many young people will die before then.
"What do I tell these parents that are calling me every night between now and 2007. . . . What do you tell a parent . . . whose child is psychotic and the parent is frantic, saying, 'Where can I send him? What can I do?' "
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