By Don Plant

John had a good family and everything he needed, before he nearly snorted it all away.
The North Vancouver teen grew up healthy and wealthy with loving parents. He played sports and excelled at piano and guitar. He got decent grades in school and loved snowboarding.
But John is easily distracted.
He has an attention-deficit disorder, which steers him toward activities he finds more interesting. At age 15, he started smoking marijuana every day.
“It was easier to fit into that group of people and leave school,” he said.
“It progressed from there. I got into ecstasy, went to parties. I got kicked out of three schools for using.”
The downward spiral continued.
He drank heavily. He used cocaine and Dilaudid, an addictive painkiller stronger than morphine. He wasn‘t eating and got sick. He avoided home. When he did show up, he yelled at his family.
By his late teens, he was breaking into houses for money to support his habits. His weight dropped to 95 pounds.
“I was really close to death,” he said. “I was in hospital. The doctors told me I was at risk of having a heart attack. My head was saying, ’Leave the hospital. Go get high.‘ I didn‘t care if I died.”
John, now 19, sought rehab at a facility on the Coast last March. It didn‘t work out, and he started breaking the law again.
Then he signed up for The Crossing, a long-term treatment centre for young people near Keremeos. He became one of its first male clients in July.
Six months later, John is clean and sober with no desire to get high. He‘s not ready to leave yet, but he‘s getting close.
“I‘d be dead today if I wasn‘t here. I love my family again. I have friendships again.”
The Crossing is the first long-term, residential facility for addicted youth in Western Canada. Boys and girls up to age 24 (the average is 17) live up to a year on a quiet, 24-hectare site where they get therapy, job training and education.
The centre is operated by the Montreal-based Portage Program for Drug Dependencies, which runs 10 similar facilities in Eastern Canada. The non-profit group claims about 85 per cent of the clients are able to break their addictions for good.
A proportion of young addicts needs a concentrated and longer term of treatment, said facility director Diane Power-Jeans. Their most common drugs of choice are alcohol, methamphetamines and cocaine, but their backgrounds are as diverse as the quality of the narcotics they buy.
“Addiction knows no boundaries. We have kids in foster homes all their lives and kids in functional families,” said Power-Jeans. “There‘s no prejudice when it comes to addiction.”
Some, like Serina, survived horrific abuse as a child in dysfunctional families.
The 16-year-old was bullied and beaten after her family moved from Vernon to the Lower Mainland. She was home-schooled in Grade 2. A stranger and later a relative had molested her by the time she was eight.
“I found out what sex was when I was really young. I was an outgoing kid. I became really quiet and depressed,” she said.
Serina grew to hate her family and school. She gravitated to anything that let her escape those negative feelings. Her friends became her world. She began drinking at 11 and smoking pot by 13.
She went into foster care and moved back with her mom a year later. She snorted coke, smoked crack and dropped ecstasy regularly. She avoided school as her addictions escalated.
“I hated life. Drugs were the only things that kept me going through the day,” she said.
Like John, Serina ended up in hospital with severe depression. She was transferred to a therapeutic school for people with addictions and mental-health problems. After six months, she began trusting people again.
The school hooked her up with The Crossing. She resisted, but a friend dragged her to an orientation meeting. She liked the counsellors and moved in last April. She graduates from the program next week.
“I‘ve discovered myself, and know what I want to do with my life. I want to finish Grade 12 and go travelling for a year with Katimavik. I want to go to Third-World countries. You appreciate life so much more,” she said.
Each client at The Crossing requires a doctor‘s referral. Access is granted to those who medically need the program most. They must have completed a medical withdrawal program and no longer use alcohol or drugs.
The program is run by the clients‘ peers. The more skills you acquire, the more responsibilities you take on. If you stay on track, you become a mentor for less experienced residents.
There‘s zero tolerance for violence or sexual contact. Staff separate the boys from the girls during therapy sessions. Girls tend to avoid their deeper issues when guys are in the room and drop out more readily, said Power-Jeans. Once you‘re involved in a relationship, you don‘t concentrate enough on yourself.
The longer you stay, the longer the passes you earn. Clients start with a six-hour pass to Keremeos. They graduate to nine hours in Penticton, 24 hours elsewhere in the Interior and 72 hours for those visiting elsewhere in B.C. They must have a plan before they leave.
If a client uses drugs while away, he or she is obliged to talk about it.
“We make it so it‘s not shameful. It‘s a lapse,” Power-Jeans said. “It‘s important to share with your peers so you can work through it. ’What could I have done differently?‘”
Some kids can‘t handle the pressure and go AWOL. Staff want them to do it safely, so they get them a bus pass or ride and a safe place to land. They drop out rarely.
School is an integral part of the day, even if it‘s just one course. Teachers try to give kids a feeling of success in class they‘ve often lacked. Completing assignments and getting good grades lead to positive feedback.
The Vancouver Coastal and Fraser Health Authorities cover the annual $2.4-million operating cost, with most clients arriving from the Lower Mainland. On Friday, 14 of the facility‘s 42 beds were empty.
Even though The Crossing is located within the Interior Health region, IH only pays the other authorities for the beds they use on a piecemeal basis. Five young people from the Interior are at The Crossing – a fraction of those who could use it.
“There‘s a real need in IH,” said Power-Jeans. “There‘s no shortage of addicted adolescents who need our sponsors. There‘s a shortage of sponsors.”
The Portage Program estimates for every dollar spent on a resident, the taxpayer saves $7 in health, justice and social-services costs.
Power-Jeans calls that a good return.
“Kids are getting sicker and sicker. More drugs are available. They‘re pressured younger. We ask them about their first drug use. It‘s like age nine, 10 and 11. They‘re babies at nine.”

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