Some seeking treatment for drug use say they face long waitlists, paperwork

People who experienced substance use disorders and their families say the road to recovery was paved with 'bureaucratic hoops' and waitlists of up to three months to access certain treatment programs.

Kirkland Lake resident Megan Cameron is in recovery and says it's been hard to co-ordinate the help needed for her former partner who is currently struggling with severe and chronic drug use. 

She says calls for help have often been transferred from one agency to another as they looked for withdrawal management support, detox, assessments and treatment. 

"Each resource is like: 'Oh, we don't do that'," she said. 

She says they are now working to get him into treatment, but the northeastern Ontario programs they've called have waitlists ranging from three to 10 weeks and a list of criteria that needs to be met to be admitted into the program.

"It's so frustrating … It takes a lot of one to say 'I'm done, I want the help now."

"If there isn't any help right then and there, it's back to the streets," she said, adding that it'll be yet another long process to get back to the point of no longer wanting to use drugs. 

Cameron says she worries about her former partner not making it to the intake date.

"I have two children with him… It's a worry for all of us, we wake up every day and hunt him down because he doesn't have a phone, or stability," she said. 

"Is he alive today? Did he overdose?" 

She also worries that there could be changes to his health or his willingness to be sober in the next few weeks that would make him no longer admissible for treatment.

Elsewhere in the north, Greater Sudbury resident Jessica Fell says her son had been struggling with drug use for some time before he finally opened up to the idea of getting help. 

She says the family seized on the opportunity and drove straight to a local clinic to get the Global Appraisal of Individual Needs (GAIN) assessment needed for admission into most treatment programs.

That's when they learned there was a two week wait time to receive a GAIN – the first administrative step that needs to be taken to be able to apply to most treatment programs.