Former addict calls for more methadone programs

A former sex trade worker and drug addict in Moncton is calling on the province to do more to help people trying to battle drug addictions.

Pamela O'Donnell says the problem is growing across New Brunswick, and the government isn't doing enough to help.

She now works with young people and helps addicts looking for a way out.

O'Donnell says she decided to turn her life around when she became pregnant, but when she looked into getting help in New Brunswick, a long waiting list sent her to Ontario.

"It was very hard for me," O'Donnell said. "I had to leave the province myself. There weren't enough services or support for me to exit the trade or addictions when I was there."

O'Donnell helpedin the preparation of aprovincial government study done under theformer Conservativegovernment's Violence Against Women action plan.

The study's main focus was figuring out how to help sex trade workers get off the streets. Methadone treatment was an important part of the study, which is now complete and sitting in Liberal government hands.

O'Donnell hopes the study won't sitfor much longer, because the number of instances of drug addiction within the sex trade has skyrocketed in the past few years, and that is overwhelming the supports in place.

As of January, 628 people were on the waiting list for methadone treatment in the province. More than 200 of them are in the Moncton region.

"Some people won't even go for help because they don't want to wait two or three years for help," she said. "I want to see [the report] released.

"I want people to hear the stories of the people that participated in that research project. They … shared very intimate details in hopes something would be done and I think they deserve that. I think it really needs to be out there to help service providers realize what they're dealing with."

New Brunswick Health Minister Mike Murphy said there are no easy answers when it comes to methadone treatment.

Funding is one issue, he said, but there are others.

"One of the difficulties in methadone is to have pharmacies available to do it and have the physicians available to prescribe it," he said.

Murphy says the government is committed to cutting the waiting lists for methadone treatment. He said it's a problem that's not going away.

"I am notified and spoken to by those who have been afflicted, and the families of those afflicted, almost on a daily basis," he said. "It's something that I'll have some news on, I hope, very soon."