Days after the overdose death of a 16-year-old Coquitlam girl Fraser Health says the availability of drug treatment options for youth is a fluid situation and one that can involve a number of agencies.
"This truly is a terrible tragedy and our thoughts are with the family at this time," said Fraser Health spokesperson Tasleem Juma. "Substance use issues are very complex and particularly heartbreaking when they involve teens."
On Sunday Gwyn Staddon, a Gleneagle secondary student, was found unresponsive in the bathroom of a Port Moody Starbucks. Emergency crews were unable to revive her.
Her mother, Veronica Staddon, stated in The Province that her daughter told her she had been off heroin for a couple of weeks and was getting better.
"How do you say that the person that you love so much is gone?" Veronica Staddon wrote on Facebook. "My best friend, my daughter, my sweetheart baby…I will never stop missing you, right now my heart won't stop breaking."
Staddon is now speaking out about the lack of affordable rehabilitation options for youth, saying she had tried to find a treatment facility for her daughter but discovered the waiting lists were either too long or the private options too expensive.
Juma said youth in the region who express an interest in dealing with their substance use issues are immediately connected with services.
"We prioritize youth substance use," Juma wrote in an email to The Tri-City News. "If a teen has an acute substance use issue, we ensure they receive prompt care and connections to services to help them."
Those services include detox beds, mental health and substance services, substance use counselling specializing in youth and intensive treatment services.
Juma said there is no wait for youth in crisis and "virtually no wait" for detox services in Fraser Health, though there may be some wait to access residential treatment services. Regional resources include six detox beds for youth at Creekside in Surrey and four residential treatment beds for youth at The Last Door in New Westminster.
Fraser Health can also access provincial beds, or beds in other health authorities.
Juma said the wait list for residential treatment is fluid and on average it's about six weeks, though clients also have access to counselling and other treatment options while they wait.
"Day-and-weekend programs do not turn youth away, ever," Juma said. "We even provide transit fare to ensure they are able to make it to these programs."
Diane Sowden of the Children of the Street Society said while getting into detox can be a matter of days, there is a lack of long-term treatment for youth.
"The youth have to be willing and able to do it, and sign themselves in; they can sign themselves out at any time," Sowden said. "It's not as simple as just having the services. Does the youth have the ability to make those decisions, or is the drug making the decisions for them?"
Sowden, who said she did not know Staddon, said her organization is finding that drug use among youth in the Tri-Cities is on the rise.
"We have youth in our community using meth, using heroin, cocaine, we're seeing that it has grown in the community. Is it because kids are speaking out more now? I don't know, but we are seeing that there is an increase.
"It's very, very sad. My heart goes out to this family, I can't even imagine what they're going through."
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