Pubdate: Thu, 06 Aug 2009
Source: Province, The (CN BC)
Copyright: 2009 Canwest Publishing Inc.
Contact: http://www.canada.com/theprovince/letters.html
Website: http://www.canada.com/theprovince/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/476
Author: Jon Ferry

NO CURE FOR ADDICTION WITHOUT HEAVY LIFTING

When You Work, Says Former Heroin Addict Barry Joneson, 'You Start 
Getting This Pride Inside'

It's a boiling hot summer morning in East Vancouver, and there's a 
big, shiny red truck outside what real-estate pros would describe as 
an old-timer in need of a little tender loving care. Inside is a 
construction crew composed of four ex-drug addicts who've been on the 
job since 7:30 a.m. dispensing it.

They look fit, healthy, clear-eyed . . . and a great advertisement 
for the value of physical work.

Drug addicts? Yes, there are two former coke addicts and a couple 
once hooked on heroin, including boss Barry Joneson, founder of 
Pacific Labour and Demolition. "I've never in 15 years employed 
anybody who wasn't either addicted or homeless," he says matter-of-factly.

Indeed, Joneson is proud of the fact that, without government 
subsidies, his Burnaby-based construction business has helped scores 
of addicts get back on their feet -- including his own son-in-law, 
Travis Lawson.

Lawson, a 35-year-old former cocaine addict, has been clean for eight 
years. He looks like a movie star. But he tells me he would have 
wound up on the streets if he hadn't kicked his habit. None of his 
family members would have had him at their house.

"I started stealing to support my addiction, stealing stuff from 
them," the father of two said, noting he went through a New 
Westminster recovery program before joining Pacific Labour, where 
he's been working ever since.

Joneson, though, notes that not every addict can hold down a job. 
Most come from dysfunctional homes. Some have been reduced "to the 
animal level" and aren't able to communicate properly with other 
people. They need love, tough love . . . and mutual support.

"The one thing addicts don't have is life skills," Joneson said. "The 
drugs are just the most obvious symptom of a lot bigger problem: 
They've been raised with not learning how to deal with anything in life."

The heavily tattooed Joneson is now in great shape. At 56, he can 
still bench-press 305 pounds six times in a row. But he was an addict 
for 20 years and homeless for four, which did terrible things to his 
self-esteem.

His drug use spiralled out of control after his four-year-old son, 
David, died following minor surgery. "I blamed myself," he said.

Joneson's mom and dad were alcoholics. He was told every day he was 
good for nothing, and he spent a total of three years in jail for 
shoplifting and other property crimes. Now, he's a firm believer in 
the power of work in turning people's lives around: "You start 
getting this pride inside. You start feeling good about yourself."

Getting a job is one thing. Keeping it is much harder, at least for 
addicts. For that, they need to stay way from drugs and other drug 
users. And that's why Joneson says so-called harm-reduction programs, 
like the methadone maintenance program promoted by Vancouver's health 
establishment, don't seem to work. Other members of Joneson's 
construction crew don't want to be working alongside drug users 
either. Former heroin addict Kevin Eaton, 31, says he was introduced 
to drugs when he was 15. And last year, he lived mostly on the 
streets of Vancouver.

But Eaton has been clean for nine months, and has been working for 
Joneson for the past seven. He's gained 45 pounds, and enjoys the 
exertion of the work: "I feel good. It's a good 'tired.'"

It's the kind of "tired" I think we need more of in Vancouver. At 
least that's if we're to help folks in the Downtown Eastside get off 
the scourge of drugs -- and recapture a little tender loving care for 
themselves and those around them.
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MAP posted-by: Keith Brilhart