Treatment centre to focus on youth

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Saskatchewan's first substance abuse treatment centre for Aboriginal people is closing its doors, but will re-open within a year as a treatment centre for Aboriginal youth.

The New Dawn Valley Centre accepted its last patient for treatment in mid-February, and is now in the process of winding down its operations, said Dean Bellegarde, the chairman of the centre's board of directors.

By this time next year the facility will be up and running again, but with a new focus-treating Aboriginal youth seeking medical assistance to help them break their dependence on alcohol or drugs.

No such facility currently exists in Saskatchewan for Aboriginal youth, said Bellegarde, and southern Saskatchewan chiefs have told the board such a facility is badly needed.

"Within the past year and a half, we've started to see a change in our communities, especially with new drugs and gang-related environments," he said.

Of specific concern is the increasing use of crystal methamphetamine on reserves and in rural communities.

Also known as 'ice,' 'crystal,' and 'glass,' crystal meth is the latest scourge on the prairies. It's a stimulant that provides a chemical high resembling crack cocaine, with one exception-someone smoking crack will come down from the high within minutes; the high from crystal meth can last as long as eight to 12 hours.

Crystal meth is powerfully addictive, but unlike many other drugs, it can be made from a concoction of readily available ingredients-cough syrup, rat poisons and used flashlight batteries.

"It's just horrendous, the idea of taking that stuff," Bellegarde said.

In the short term, crystal meth addicts suffer from a lack of sleep, lack of appetite, delusions and extreme depression. In the long term, they can suffer from paranoia, irrational anger, extreme tiredness, disturbed sleep patterns and extreme craving for the drug.

Last year, the Saskatchewan government released a report outlining its strategy to counter the drug's spread. The report said that the province's youth and Aboriginal people are those mostly likely at risk for crystal meth addiction.

Within the last couple of years crystal meth addiction has gone from being almost unknown to being a serious concern for those fighting drug addiction, as well as for the law enforcement and judicial system, the report said.

Renovations of the New Dawn Valley Centre are expected to take from six months to a year. The facility needs extensive renovations in order to comply with the requirements of a youth treatment facility, Bellegarde said. New staff will also have to be hired because treating young people who suffer from drug and alcohol addiction requires higher qualifications than treating addicted adults.

The New Dawn Valley Centre is located in Fort San, near Fort Qu'Appelle, on the shores of Echo Lake in the Qu'Appelle Valley. Primarily designed as a treatment centre for adults, it had been providing treatment for Aboriginal people for alcohol, drug and gambling addictions since 1978.

The centre had space for 30 patients to take part in its 21-day program for drug and alcohol treatment, and also ran an outpatient program for people with gambling addictions.

Treatment facilities located on other Saskatchewan reserves will be able to fill the void left by the centre's refocused mandate, Bellegarde said.