Since the NDP government has been in power the have pulled funding from :

• Recovery House in Antigonish 

• Talbot House in Sydney

• In July, funding for the Capital Health – Adult Compass (addiction services)program will end.

This means that the 21 day program at Soldiers Memorial Hospital in Middleton will be the only adult inpatient addiction treatment facility in the province.

Alcohol (69%) and other Non-Prescription Drug use (19%) were the predominant treatment issues in patients accepted into the Middleton 21 day program.  AVH received a report in March 2011 about a pilot project called the Screening, Brief Intervention, Referral and Consultation Pilot Project .This was a pilot project where they had clinical therapists from AVH Addiction Services placed at different local medical practices.The goal of the pilot project was for the partners (AVH Addiction Services and the primary care sites) to work collaboratively to build capacity for screening, brief intervention, referral, and consultation in the primary care setting. After the 6 month pilot project AVH reported that :

Prescription drug use was the most frequently reported substance use issue (48%, n=87) of all clients who scheduled appointments. This was followed by alcohol (20%, n=36), nicotine (20%, n=36), and illicit drug use (12%, n=25). Only one client reported gambling, and two reported gambling of others, as an issue requiring consultation.

• What people are asking for help with : 48% RX Drug Abuse , 20% Alcohol Abuse .

• What addictions clients suffer with who get accepted into the 21 day program : 19% RX Drug Abuse , 69% Alcohol Abuse

 

Issues participants had voiced in a report about the Middleton 21 day program :

• 40% did not find the program to be helpful in assisting them to manage their financial situations;

• 46% specifically noted that the program did not help them in developing hobbies, crafts or other interests to occupy or distract them from their ‘old habits’.

• 37% reported the program was not very helpful in supporting recreational and volunteer involvement in the community.

This worries me that Nova Scotia has been robbed of all its publicly funded adult inpatient addiction treatment facilities. All the province has left is the 21 day program in Middleton which only runs a few times a year . The stats above do not paint a pretty picture either . This program is geared towards alcohol abuse when we have a prescription drug abuse epidemic growing by the minute !