Drug and Alcohol Rehab in Britsh Columbia
In Canada studies have been conducted by CCSA, The Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse, which relay the following rather alarming facts regarding addiction to drugs or alcohol. Approximately 148,000 or 5% of British Columbians are binge drinkers, who regularly consume a harmful amount of alcohol and are dependent on alcohol. The same studies indicate that 1% or approximately 40,000 British Columbians are dependent on illicit drugs.
British Columbia is a province which has taken an aggressive stance with regards to its citizens’ drug and alcohol addiction. As a result the following types of treatment are available in British Columbia’s 271 various rehab facilities: detoxification, drug rehab, long term residential, short term residential, out patient, and day programs.
In British Columbia an addict in need of immediate help with his/her addiction can be admitted to a local area “detox” facility with as little as a one or two day waiting period.
This stay usually lasts between three and seven days. This solution only provides up to a one week’s reprieve from a life long problem. In order to be admitted to one of the government sponsored residential programs one must first appear in person to have an assessment done and then be recommended to one of the facilities where there is an average of a two to four week waiting list, and one must have been abstinent from all drugs and alcohol for at least one week to be admitted.
If one were in need of long-term rehabilitation he/she could be admitted to a halfway house or Salvation Army program in as little as one to two weeks but these are not rehabilitation programs. Rather, they are sober living environments that have certain requirements: their occupants must be sober and attend alcoholics anonymous or narcotics anonymous meetings and undergo other types of ongoing therapy as well as seek out employment. It is a reintegration program rather than a rehabilitative program in a controlled environment.
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