Parents Call For More Programs For Teens Battling Mental Illness, Addiction Investment executive Nancy Sampson spent $400,000 to send her two teenaged children - grappling with depression and addictions - to the United States for treatment because there was nothing available in Ontario. Claire McConnell, a health systems planner, spent $70,000 on private treatment in Ontario and New Brunswick for her daughter - a straight-A student and gifted soccer and hockey player - who became addicted to drugs. They are two of several parents attending a news conference today at Queen's Park to tell chilling stories of how mental illnesses and addictions can strike teens in any family - and there is a shocking lack of services available in Ontario when they do. [continues 526 words]
'This Is Not a Baby I Am Going to Lose' In the 1990s, experts warned that damaged children born to addict moms would overwhelm social systems. Now, science finds exposure to cocaine may wreak less havoc than alcohol or even tobacco -- hopeful news for families who yearn to turn their lives around. Jean looked at the ultrasound photograph of her unborn baby, taken precisely at 1:24 p.m. on May 5, 2001. She hardly could believe her eyes. This time, things would be different, she thought. This baby wouldn't be put up for adoption. At 39, and after two decades of crack cocaine use, she was being given another chance to be a mother. [continues 2964 words]
Canada's Health Minister Tony Clement was put under the spotlight yesterday when supporters of a safe-injection site for IV drug users demanded to know whether the federal government was going to renew its legal exemption. But Mr. Clement was not providing hints on what the future holds for Vancouver's landmark safe-injection site, which sparked the concern of doctors, researchers and drug users. "The evidence is irrefutable," Julio Montaner, director of the British Columbia Centre for Excellence in HIV-AIDS and president-elect of the International AIDS Society, said at a press conference yesterday. [continues 518 words]
TORONTO -- Federal Health Minister Tony Clement came under further pressure today after a high-powered press conference of doctors and scientists called on his government to not only continue with Vancouver's safe-injection site but to expand it. At a news conference today, researchers said the evidence was overwhelming that the landmark site -- the only one of its kind in North America - not only is valuable to drug addicts but it is good for the community as well. "The evidence is irrefutable," said Julio Montaner, director of the British Columbia Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS and president-elect of the International AIDS Society. [continues 384 words]
