Drug Addiction in Kelowna, British Columbia

To say that alcohol and drug addiction are a problem just about everywhere is quite an understatement.  Canadians and Americans for that matter face a growing drug addiction problem and it seems to be getting larger. There are drug addiction treatment centers going up all the time, residential programs and outpatient counseling.  Even so the number of people, the number of addicts needing help always seems to far outnumber the treatment centers. Kelowna is proving to be no different in this regard.  In Kelowna, a high average rate of adult and teenagers are abusing drugs and suffering from drug addiction.

There is research of late to show that the number of people driving under the influence of an illegal drug is almost on par with the people driving under the influence of alcohol. A study done by the Canadian Center on Substance abuse found on average that 1 in 10 drivers were testing positive for alcohol while 1 in 14 were testing positive for drugs.  In just a short four night study, one of the nights found in Kelowna that one in five people stopped had drugs in their system.

Of the four nights of research, two nights of the data were lost by a courier. Even so Kelowna showed that 14.7% of the drivers stopped were high on drugs. The two day report from Kelowna showed an average higher than the 4 day reports from Prince George, Abbotsford, Saanich and Vancouver.  While the major drug of choice was marijuana, there was some cocaine and opiate use also. In the four night study there were 534 people pulled over in Kelowna with 38 people testing positive for drug use. With more teens offending of late on a national average these numbers are all the more disturbing but with some more work and education these numbers can surely be brought down.