Attention to legal vises; Key

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Canadian society should focus more on legal vices rather than the illicit if it wants to counter the rising costs of lost productivity and family dysfunction, according to an expert in the field of addictions.
"Most of our addiction problems occur with behaviours from legal substances -- tobacco, alcohol and gambling," said Wayne Skinner, deputy clinical director in the addictions program at the Centre for Addictions and Mental Health, Ontario.
 Skinner was keynote speaker at Moving Forward, a national conference on substance abuse held in Saskatoon recently. He said addictions to legal vices have become endemic and the problem needs to be public. "It's not just a problem for government but a problem for communities, it's a civic issue," he said. "We all need to be thinking about what's the balance here and what has to be done about it, because really, what are governments but the reflections of the will of the communities?"
 
The group of people with severe addiction is the size of a shot glass compared to the rest of the population, but the problems facing society aren't pint-sized, because they affect everyone.
 A study done in Ontario found that 10 per cent of people who consume alcohol are problem drinkers, Skinner said. That small group of people drinks enough to contribute more than 50 per cent of alcohol revenue, he said.  Another study done in Ontario suggests that while only five per cent of gamblers have moderate to severe problems, those people contribute 35 per cent of casino revenues, he said.
Skinner said what concerns him is the minority of people who supply a sizable amount of revenue to the government.  What needs to be examined at is how much cash goes back into helping those with a problem.
"I think what the province and First Nations have said is that they want to utilize gaming and utilize alcohol sales for funding of programs, but we want to do that in a way that doesn't actually harm individuals," said Graham Addley, the provincial minister of healthy living services.

 He said the answer is the Premier's Project Hope, a three-year plan to prevent and treat substance abuse.
Skinner said the program focuses on prevention. Another appealing aspect is that the project includes many disciplines in its approach, such as criminal justice, health care and social services, along with the substance abuse system, he said.
 Dealing with addictions goes beyond the traditional approach of treatment, Addley said, adding that the majority of addictions can be prevented. He said the stereotypes related to addiction need to be dismantled, making it "easier for people to say, 'this is a problem in my life.' "WSN