Petition urges establishment of youth addiction services here

By Heather Ogilvie
Fort Frances Times Ltd.

Given the rising illicit narcotic and prescription drug use in Rainy River District, a small group of parents and community members have come together with a petition to act on the problem by establishing youth addiction services and increased drug enforcement in the area.
The petition is being circulated throughout the district until the end of August, which all residents are being encouraged to sign. It then will be presented to government officials in the hope they will take action.
“We need to have a facility to offer 100 percent treatment for youth—not a Band Aid solution,” stressed Sharon Strachan, a member of People Against Illicit Narcotics (PAIN).
The group, which has been meeting once a month since March, was prompted to take action by their awareness of the lack of services here in Rainy River District.
“There’s definitely a need here for every facet of a treatment centre, including counsellors, doctors, and follow-up care,” noted fellow PAIN member Pauline Perreault.
Currently, the nearest residential treatment centres are in Thunder Bay and Portage La Prairie, Man.
Jeff Tilbury, an addiction counsellor with Riverside Community Counselling Services here, explained youth from Rainy River District do use those facilities, but there are long waiting lists.
“Throughout Canada there is a lack of residential resources,” he noted. “And something needs to be done about it—the youth are the future.”
Tilbury said he provides addiction counselling services for adults in the area and is able to do referrals for youth, but there are no residential or non-residential services in the district for teens.
“We need the local government and health care agencies to take action and make services available for the population,” he stressed, adding he does about six assessments of youth a month and often receives up to 15 inquiries a month.
“We have been getting a lot of calls, but it doesn’t always turn into service,” he noted.
Tilbury said they’d really like to see a residential treatment facility in the area because it would offer complete care of the youth.
“It allows them to be removed from the drug environment and provides individual counselling, group therapy, helps developed a habit of routine to get the process started, and then they can bring the skills back to the community,” he remarked.
“After care is really important in the recovery.”
Hugh Dennis, co-ordinator of the Rainy River District Substance Abuse Prevention Team, said they really are pushing to have a facility built to service the district.
“We’re shooting big,” he stressed. “We’d like to see a whole gambit of youth addiction services.”
Dennis said the facility would be for youth throughout the area from Rainy River to Atikokan—not just for one community. And he added while geared toward youth, it could facilitate treatment for others and for a variety of addictions, including alcohol.
Besides their ultimate goal of building a residential treatment facility in the district, PAIN also aims to bring awareness of drug addictions—and the lack of resources—to the forefront.
“We want people to become involved in what we’re trying to do,” Strachan said, adding the group is open to everyone.
“We don’t talk specifically about someone’s son, daughter, niece, nephew, or grandchild,” she noted. “We talk about a means to assist in getting them off drugs and having the police to more action on drug sales.”
“We want to get the message out there that there are a lot of drugs on our streets,” echoed Perreault, noting part of the problem is the cost for teens to participate in activities such as hockey or figure skating is extremely high and some parents can’t afford it.
“Some people may view drugs as a small problem, but it’s not small—it’s a huge problem and we’re just touching the tip of the iceberg,” Strachan warned.
She said PAIN meets on the first Monday of each month (Tuesday if it’s a holiday) at 7 p.m. at donated locations, and that the group is looking for individuals from different communities to take an interest in it and pass along the information.
And she noted people can start to show their support by signing the petition.
“Anyone can sign it and it’s a good time to get it out with an election coming,” Perreault said. “The politicians need to know what’s going on.”
Copies of the petition have been distributed to locations throughout the district, including at First Nation band offices, Skates & Blades, Emo Health Centre, Rainy River Health Centre, Riverside Community Counselling Services, and several municipal offices.
“All we’re asking is for people to read the petition and if you believe in it, sign in,” said Strachan.
“It would be great to get as many signatures as we can,” echoed Tilbury. “The more we have, the more [the government] would have a hard time ignoring it.”
Strachan feels just by getting the petition out, the group has accomplished something.
“We’re a small group and we’ve come a long way,” she remarked. “There is strength in numbers. We just may be able to accomplish what we’ve set out to do.”
For more information about the petition or PAIN, contact Perreault at 274-6877, Strachan at 274-2861, or Dennis at the Northwestern Health Unit office in Fort Frances.