Pubdate: Wed, 19 Apr 2000
Source: Press, The (New Zealand)
Copyright: 2000 The Christchurch Press Company Ltd.
Contact:  Private Bag 4722, Christchurch, New Zealand
Fax: +64-3-364-8238
Website: http://www.press.co.nz/
Author: Yvonne Martin

$200-A-DAY DRUG CLINIC

The Queen Mary Hospital at Hanmer Springs has begun a new $200-a-day 
programme treating youths as young as 14 for serious drug addiction.

Chief executive officer Tim Harding said the hospital, New Zealand's 
equivalent to The Betty Ford Clinic, would even accept 12 and 13-year-olds 
for detoxification and rehabilitation, if they proved suitable candidates.

The youth alcohol and drug programme, from eight to 12 weeks long, is 
designed for hard-core teenagers who have not responded to other 
community-based treatments.

It is believed to be the first hospital-based youth programme of its type.

Most youths treated by the hospital so far have been addicted to drugs, 
mainly cannabis and solvents, said Mr Harding.

"We've had to deal with youths before, but nobody was funding a youth 
programme as such," he said. "This is separate to the adult programme and 
much more appropriate for young clients."

Anti-drugs campaigner Trevor Grice, a Queen Mary director, said growing 
numbers of children had drug addictions, at younger ages than before.

"The experimental drug use we once saw at 14 or 15, we are now seeing at 11 
or 12," he said.

"The potency of the drugs is increasing. They are more widely available and 
children have much faster absorption rates. They have less efficient 
metabolic systems than adults and they become addicted far faster."

Mr Grice said youths' obnoxious behaviour was often dictated by their 
addiction.

"We have hundreds of agencies trying to deal with it by counselling, when 
essentially a lot of them need detoxifying. That has to be done under the 
supervision of doctors and nurses," he said.

"Trying to counsel someone who is toxic ... you may as well take a 
jellyfish to an orthopaedic surgeon."

Detoxification ranges from one to three weeks, depending on the drug type, 
said Mr Harding.

He said the Health Funding Authority's decision to fund five beds for 
youths from the southern region was pivotal to the hospital being able to 
offer the programme.

However, it would also need funding from other agencies, such as Child, 
Youth and Family Services, and private fee-paying clients, to survive, said 
Mr Harding.

The programme for 14 to 19-year-olds has begun with seven youths, but would 
ideally run with 15 to 20 clients, he said.

Mr Harding said the $192.50 cost a day included 24-hour, seven-days-a-week 
supervision from a specialist team, including three counsellors, a teacher, 
and two nurses.

The programme ends with a wilderness experience, designed by a team led by 
veteran explorer Graeme Dingle.

"This is a ground-breaking opportunity to develop a programme that has 
hospital backing, detoxification, full alcohol and drug treatment service, 
followed by an outdoor adventure in the perfect region, for less than the 
cost of a hospital bed," Mr Harding said.
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