The evidence is in, according to an expert in addictions research.
Tim Stockwell, the director of the Centre for Addictions Research of B.C. on Monday told city council that a study of clients involved in Shelter House’s alcohol management pilot program are better off than those who aren’t using it.
Looking at the program’s 18 users, who are given regulated doses of alcohol, and comparing them to 20 people who could be in the program but aren’t involved, show dramatic results.
Program participants are less likely to drink other forms of alcohol, like hairspray or mouthwash. They’re 37 per cent less likely to be admitted to hospital and 88 per cent less likely to find themselves in a detox facility. Contact with police is down 20 per cent.
The cost is expensive. It runs about $500,000 a year. But if Shelter house executive director Patty Hajdu has her figures correct, it’s a lot less expensive than leaving them to their own devices.
According to Hajdu it would cost more than $2.3 million to take care of those same people if their alcoholism went unchecked – through increased medical costs, police intervention, housing, food and other associated costs.
While controversial, the program appears to be having the desired effects. Let’s keep it going.
