Chief going straight to top
Published Monday March 16th, 2009
Drug addiction Bill Reid will meet early this week with Health Minister Mike Murphy to discuss methadone issue
SAINT JOHN - Police Chief Bill Reid said he was taking off the gloves and early this week one of the people he expects to help him in his fight is going to hear just how serious he is about more methadone treatment in the city and more help for addicts.
On Thursday, Reid tracked down provincial Health Minister Mike Murphy in the lobby of the city's Hilton Hotel and got Murphy to agree to a meeting on the subject.
Reid has become increasingly frustrated with the revolving door of conviction, treatment and relapse that most opiate addicts in the city succumb to. From robberies to shoplifting to violent crimes, much, if not all, is driven by addicts desperate to feed their habits.
"The issue really is that these folks are addicted, so strongly addicted that they'll do whatever crime is necessary to get the money to buy the product," Reid said.
The province spends $1,789,045 on methadone programs and $402,747 for 151 treatment spots in Saint John. Left untreated, the wake of destruction an addict leaves behind can cost society almost $50,000 a year. Treatment of a single addict, on the other hand, costs only $6,000 per year. (The call for more methadone treatment has been gaining voices across the province. In February, the New Brunswick Association of Chiefs of Police adopted a motion calling for more treatment spaces.)
Fredericton police Chief Barry MacKnight is president of the association.
"Not everybody who is an addict commits crime, but virtually a huge proportion of a certain type of street crime is committed by people exclusively who are addicted to substances," MacKight said.
In Frederiction, the roughly 50 robberies that occur there each year are committed by addicts. The numbers are similar in Saint John.
"We know with a large proportion of those cases, once they get onto methadone, they're not doing crime," MacKnight said.
Methadone does help stabilize those addicted to such drugs as crack cocaine and Dilaudid, but MacKnight also knows it's not the cure-all.
"Methadone is saving people's lives because it's giving them an opportunity to stabilize," he said.
"Police have always known that locking people up is not the answer."
There are approximately 80 addicts on the methadone treatment program at Ridgewood Addiction Services.
Reid would like to see all addicts get the help they need, when they need it.
"What we're trying to do is get assistance for those people that are on the waiting list or assistance for those people that wish to be part of a program that can ultimately change their behaviours around crime," Reid said.
Over the next six months, Ridgewood is redirecting some of its resources and creating 50 new treatment spots.
Reid has been meeting with area doctors and those who counsel addicts in a bid to see how they can work together to make treatment more widely available in the region.
"I really need the minister to see that this is a viable intervention that's necessary to help these folks," Reid said.
Disabled
Search Articles
More CE Network Sites & Partners:
Comments (6)
All comments are subject to the site Terms of Use. For a full commenting tutorial click here.
Our editorial team relies on filtering technology and our visitor community to identify inappropriate comments. In the event that a site user has submitted offensive content that has evaded our filter, please select the option to Flag As Inappropriate presented within the comment. Thank you for helping to keep this site clean.
I stand completely behind the Chief on this issue. As someone that lives in the Old North End, I'm constantly watching addicts go down hill, watching the lives of young children being ruined by pills. Something needs done.
I think prevention of crime is far less costly than the carceral system, and that a little compassion and understanding goes a long way. I too lived ina bad neighborhood, and when you see the suffering people go through, you stop thinking this is their own fault and they deserve it. You just want to help, adn if methadone is the answer, why not. Rehab isn't fun.
we have elderly who must choose between life saving medicine and food or heat, diabetics who must pay for thier own needles and testing equipment and cancer sufferers who can't get the drug treatments they need to survive. My compassion goes to them first.
If you choose your own illness I'm not against helping but there are a number of people ahead of you in line who didn't pick thier illness.