Fighting drug abuse

The city is looking to kick its drug abuse problems by attacking the root causes.

From a lack of affordable housing to problems with enforcement, a draft strategy was presented by the Thunder Bay Drug Strategy steering committee Wednesday that it hopes will tackle the city’s substance abuse, which is higher than elsewhere in the province, by having various agencies work together.

Drug strategy co-ordinator Patty Hajdu said the strategy took two years to get to a draft stage and includes feedback from more than 350 people, including the 35-member steering committee.

The drug strategy has more than 112 proposed actions from lobbying other levels of government for funding to increasing the number of treatment beds in the city for addicts.

One of the eight pillars discussed in the strategy is prevention, Hajdu said. Keeping kids substance free is one way to help make substance-free adults later on.

"The longer we can delay people from using substances the better chance it is that they’re not going to run into problems down the line," Hajdu said.

Addressing why rates in Thunder Bay are higher than average is as complex as the issue of substance abuse itself, Hajdu said.

"We’ve had serious economic lows in the last several years that really deflates our economy and people’s ability to provide for their families." Hajdu said. "All kinds of things that just by the nature of our geography and how we as a community sustain ourselves put us at extra risk for issues of substance abuse."

Hajdu said it’s the first time various groups in the city have come together to put a strategy together. The first step to helping Thunder Bay is to start implementing the plan.

"So that it doesn’t end up being a nice glossy report on everybody’s shelf," she said.
Steering committee chair Coun. Rebecca Johnson said by all of the community members coming together to discuss the problems in Thunder Bay, that networking alone has helped combat the problem.

Johnson said substance abuse is a detriment to every part of a community. She’s hoping the draft plan can help.

"It’s no question, there’s a huge cost so why are we not putting that into prevention versus into reaction," Johnson said. "If we don’t address the poverty, if we don’t’ address the housing, if we don’t address the needs of the family, we’re not going to come to grips with actually overcoming this."

The draft plan will be presented on Thursday, Feb. 17 from 1 to 3 p.m. at NorWest Community Health Centre and 7 to 9 p.m. at the Port Arthur Ukrainian Prosvita Cultural Centre.

The strategy can be viewed at www.thunderbaydrugstrategy.ca.