A lot of questions but few answers after a Lethbridge addictions recovery centre suddenly turned away a young man days before he was set to start treatment.
The 21-year-old man, who requested his identity be withheld, has been fighting drug addiction since the age of 14 and has been ordered by the courts to get help. Now, he and his family are speaking out about the system that's supposed to help drug addicts get clean.
“I’m just done with the lifestyle and done with the gang stuff. I don’t want to do this anymore,” says the self-described addict who has been involved in crime and hard drugs, including meth, for nearly seven years.
The man was released from jain in June after serving time in connection with drug crimes. “I was doing things that normal people can't even comprehend what people can do. The best thing I ever did in my entire life is get out of it.”
Clean for four months, the man has been attempting to undergo treatment, a condition of his sentence, but he has been denied care by a Lethbridge rehab facility.
The man's mother, Linda Al Marzook says her son's ordeal is heartbreaking. Marzook, who does not share her son's surname, says her son is under house arrest and was slated to enter the South Country Treatment Centre in Lethbridge on September 15.
Two days prior to the start of treatment, he was told he would no longer be accepted.
“You have a court order that says you have to get treatment, you have a probation officer that is not willing to let him go for treatment because he'll have too much freedom, and you have the treatment centre making every excuse in the book not to have him,” said a frustrated Marzook.
The mother says the facility cited criminal charges, for robbery and assault from three years ago, for the last-minute rejection. She adds his probation officer denied his application to the facility because he'd have too much freedom, including day passes.
“I understand it kind of puts them a little bit between a rock and a hard spot,” said the addict's mom.
CTV spoke with staff at the treatment facility who say they have a rigorous screening process. For confidentiality reasons, they cannot provide specific details, but say they look into everything from a person's background such as mental health and criminal records, as well as following up with probation officers and case workers to ensure their staff are equipped to safely help certain individuals.
The man's family says they still don't understand how their son could be accepted for treatment and then denied.
Another facility needs to be found soon to allow the man the opportunity to complete his sentence and move towards living a clean, happy and healthy life.
“If I can put half of the effort that I put into being the person I was before, and the lifestyle that I did before, I can go very far in my life and I truly believe that.”
