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Addiction Treatment

Findings of the 2009/10 survey, Addiction Treatment in British Columbia, offer some highlights on the nature of problems experienced by those entering treatment in BC. Based on provincial data from the 2009-2010 fiscal year, alcohol was the most predominant primary substance of concern reported by all privately and publicly funded agencies across BC. Likewise, among federally funded Aboriginal treatment centres in the province, alcohol was the most commonly reported problem substance.

When combined with the other components of the Alcohol and Other Drug Monitoring project, the Addiction Treatment component allows a comparison between the estimated need for services in the community and the available treatment capacity. The Addiction Treatment data set also will allow the identification of changing patterns of need due to shifts in the patterns of drug consumption. Finally, it can serve as an additional vehicle for the health authorities and other treatment providers to communicate to a broad audience the positive changes resulting from new investments in addiction treatment.

Notes:

There is significant variability in the nature of services offered across the province. Some health authorities and the National Native Alcohol and Drug Abuse Program (NNADAP) have emphasized residential treatment while others have focused capacity on outpatient and intensive day treatment.

Privately funded addiction service providers contribute a substantial portion of residential addiction services in BC. Community-based mutual support groups are perhaps the most accessible and widely distributed form of addiction treatment in the province.

Component Details

Surveys were sent out through postal mail for private treatment agencies after phone contact with the organizations to obtain the name of the person best suited to provide the data.

For the Health Authorities, the researchers met representatives of each health authority by attending the provincial addiction network meetings that occur every quarter. Contacts were made at these meeting with health authority leaders who would either provide the data or pass on the name of the person better suited to forward the data within their respective health authorities.

Surveys for the health authorities were sent out through electronic mail at the beginning of September 2010 to gather information on fiscal year 2009-2010. Survey questionnaires destined for private treatment agencies were sent out through postal mail along with self-addressed stamped envelops at the beginning of September. Follow up emails and phone contact was initiated after six weeks of no-response.

We received partial or complete information for all health authorities pertaining to fiscal year 2009-2010. Some health authorities were only able to provide the project with partial information because their data collection systems were not integrated to easily extract the information we requested. The health authority representatives made every effort to provide the data that is available and accessible. No attempt was made to include supportive addiction housing in this report but it could be added to future reports.

Addiction treatment types were grouped into the following categories:

  • Addiction community outpatient services
  • Residential withdrawal management
  • Daytox
  • Home withdrawal management
  • Short-term intensive residential treatment
  • Short-term low-intensity residential treatment
  • Intensive day treatment
  • Long-term intensive residential treatment
  • Addiction Support in Acute Care

John Carsley, MD, CM, MSc, CCFP, FCFP, FRCPC
Medical Health Officer, Vancouver Coastal Health Authority
Medical consultant, Infant, Child & Youth Program in Vancouver
School Medical Officer, BC School District 39.

A Community Medicine Specialist, Dr. Carsley is a graduate of Yale University and the McGill University Faculty of Medicine, where he received his medical degree and a Master's degree in Epidemiology and Biostatistics. He has worked in primary care organization, immunization programming and evaluation, communicable disease prevention and control, and environmental health, spending the last ten years in Montreal as head of the health protection sector. He has been involved in the investigation of, and response to, many significant outbreaks of communicable disease at the local, regional and national levels and has served on a wide variety of regional, provincial and national expert committees on communicable disease prevention and public health program development, practice and policy.

Dr. Irwin M. CohenDavid Marsh, MD, CCSAM
Associate Dean, Postgraduate Education

Dr. Marsh graduated in Medicine from Memorial University of Newfoundland in 1992, following prior training in neuroscience and pharmacology. In July 2010, Dr. Marsh joined the Northern Ontario School of Medicine (NOSM) as Associate Dean, Community Engagement. He brings skills and experience with health care administration, strategic planning, community-based research and social accountability as well as a personal background of Aboriginal ancestry to this role.

Prior to moving to NOSM, David served as the Physician Leader, Addiction Medicine with Vancouver Coastal Health and Providence Health Care and Clinical Associate Professor in the School of Population and Public Health, Faculty of Medicine at the University of British Columbia from 2004-2010. Previously, he held leadership roles at the Addiction Research Foundation and the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health in Toronto from 1996-2003. Author of over 40 peer-reviewed papers, book chapters and government reports, Dr. Marsh’s research interests focus primarily on withdrawal management, methadone maintenance, heroin-assisted treatment, harm reduction interventions such as supervised injection. In 2004 Dr. Marsh received the Nyswander-Dole Award from the American Association for the Treatment of Opioid Dependence in recognition of his contribution to this field.

Dr. Irwin M. CohenClifton Chow
Research Lead, Youth Addiction Services, Vancouver Coastal Health.

Clifton Chow is the research coordinator for Youth Addictions at Vancouver Coastal Health. His role in the BC Monitoring Project involves the administration and analysis of the high-risk population surveys component. He has a Masters in Family Studies from UBC (2005) with a focus on parent-child interactions. His experience working with drug users includes administering the Vancouver Youth Drug Reporting System (YDRS) to several hundred youth aged 16 to 24. His research interests include youth drug use practices, and the cultural differences in youth drug attitudes.

Component Summary

The Addiction Treatment component of the BC Alcohol and Other Drug Monitoring Project seeks to determine the range of treatment services provided by both private and public funding in British Columbia and the nature of problems experienced by those entering treatment.

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