Long-term treatment needed for severe addiction: drug users

In communities across Nova Scotia, as open drug use and overdoses continue to rise, there's one thing most people agree on. There's a lot of people who need a lot of help. And I just don't know how they're going to actually do it. It's gotten so far beyond. And we need a place where they can go for long-term help. There's no inpatient. If there's an inpatient, it's seven days and you're out the door, whether you're healed or not. Over the last three years, the province has spent close to a billion dollars on mental health and addiction services. Much of the focus has been on expanding treatment centers open during the day. It's something Virginia Kostev tried when she was trying to get off carfentanil, heroin, and meth. She says she went to the treatment center once and never returned. It's day treatment, and it doesn't work because you go home, and home is where it's toxic. That's the shelter, that's the streets, that's the whole mural, that's where you use. Nova Scotia has 34 day clinics throughout the province. There are 31 inpatient beds for withdrawal management, also known as detox, in Cape Breton, Spring Hill and Dartmouth. When it comes to severe cases, this addictions doctor agrees there needs to be more. We really do need that higher level of care with something like a partial hospitalization program or an extended rehab. But Dr. Dave Martel says the day treatment programs do work. He says each clinic has a team of nurses, social workers and a doctor prepared to help clients go through withdrawal. They're here all day long and how do we keep them occupied when they're maybe a little miserable, they mostly sleep. He says yes, people are sent home at night, but most of the time that's encouraged. We understand people will go back to those environments. You're to stay in a facility, like a drug treatment facility, for months. The same situation is also having to be dealt with. People return from months in a rehab facility, sometimes to those exact same environments. Dr. Martel says his goal is to eventually have more inpatient options, as well as outreach, included in the treatment plan. Angela MacIver, CBC News, Truro.