Grand Forks Mayor Brian Taylor has gone to Cuba to look at a few different examples of addiction rehabilitation centres. “I’m working with a government agency in Cuba that does tours and things with elected officials,” Taylor said. He is combining the trip with a visit to his daughter and her family in Seattle. “There are a couple in Cuba that are in small towns. There are two in Halquin Province and then a couple more that they would like to take me to see, old American hotels that they have converted into drug rehab programs for patients from all over South America and the United States. I’m interested in one in particular, but they said that there are a couple more that are not well publicized that they would like to show me, so we’ll see how that goes.”

Taylor is aware of the negative reaction that people have whenever addiction rehabilitation is mentioned, but he said that the reality is often different than the perception. “First of all, always put alcohol in the front: alcohol and drug treatment program. There is a constant concern that you don’t want to be importing problems or people with problems, but in fact now we are having a lot of trouble with seniors that are having trouble with medications and various kinds of addictions, so it is really the people around us that need that kind of service,” Taylor said.

Taylor believes that there could be employment and other benefits to the community, but he wants to discuss the impact of the facilities with the local people in Cuba to see if in fact the benefits outweigh the disadvantages. “I’m hoping that I can look at these small communities and see the level of employment that they have been able to achieve in the local community and see what the NIMN (Not In My Neighbourhood) reaction is,” he said. “I presume that the clients are programmed to death for the time they are there, so they’re not out wandering around within the community; they are actually working on programs for that period of time. They are paying enough money for it.”

Taylor said he is paying for the trip himself. “But,” he added, “I would like to pitch Interior Health and the hospital people on this as something that we should look closer at.” Still, he is keeping an open mind. “Maybe I’ll find it to be something objectionable and nothing we want any part of.”

The Cuba portion of his trip lasts seven days.