After 20 years, young people in eastern Ontario are getting the help they need to battle substance abuse with the promise of two new residential drug treatment centres for youth in the Capital.
Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty announced $5.5 million in funding for the new treatment centres on Tuesday.
"The lure of drugs and alcohol can seem like a perfect antidote to dealing with depression, or abuse or sometimes just boredom because you can feel better now," McGuinty said during his announcement. "It's up to all of us to help kids see beyond the here and now."
The funding will be used to operate two new facilities which will house a total of 20 beds for young people between the ages of 13 and 17. The initiative will also create supportive housing and drug prevention programs in Ottawa schools.
Currently, drug-addicted youth in the region have to travel to treatment centres in Thunder Bay, Ont. or the United States to get residential treatment for substance abuse.
A day program for young people addicted to drugs and alcohol currently exists at the Dave Smith Youth Treatment Centre in Ottawa. For many teens, though, a day program isn't enough to help them overcome their addictions.
"At the end of the day they go home to negative peer influences, negative home environments, all the pressures that come along with a drug lifestyle," said Mike Beauchesne, director of the Dave Smith youth treatment centre.
Ron Caza, who has been a leader in the campaign for an Ottawa residential youth treatment centre, told CTV Ottawa it was essential for the provincial government to introduce funding in order to move forward with treatment for young people battling substance abuse.
"It's a big day because it affects everyone. There's no family that's immune from this vulnerability. Your children get involved in these problems; you can't do anything on your own. You have to have help," said Caza.
"This is the best help we can offer our children, having a centre where all their needs are met -- where they'll feel comfortable; where they'll feel wanted; where they're going to feel that they have what they need in order to get their life back on track."
The United Way is now helping launch a $6-million capital campaign to raise money to buy and retrofit two facilities which will house the new treatment centres -- one designated for Anglophones and the other for Francophones.
"We now need to raise the money in the community to get the buildings - one in the west, one in the east - to get them going . . . to get the services offered as soon as possible," said Caza, who added there are already some people lined up to make large donations to the project.
Ottawa's police chief says the treatment centres have the potential to become the City's greatest tool to fight crime in the Capital.
"It won't be an immediate impact - we'll send 20 people out of 400 by the time we open up but we need to continue at this. It didn't happen overnight, it won't be fixed overnight but this is a huge leap forward," Vern White told CTV Ottawa.
With a report from CTV Ottawa's Natalie Pierosara
