About 20 minutes outside St. John's and a short ferry ride across the tickle, there's a small community in Newfoundland with multi-million dollar addictions.

There are fewer than 3,000 residents on Bell Island, Conception Bay, but in 2004 they spent more than $5 million on gambling, alcohol and cigarettes, according to a study by the Bell Island Health and Wellness Advisory Council. Of that money, $1 million was pumped into video lottery terminals.

That came as a big surprise for some residents of the island, including teacher Reg Durdle.

"It's amazing that so much money could be spent when there's so many other needs here," Durdle said. "The VLT figure is the one that really surprised me. It's heart-breaking actually."

The health and wellness group also found that Bell Island residents have higher than average obesity rates, and nearly half them live on government assistance. Now the group is looking for suggestions from the community on how to change.

One idea is to ask Eastern Health, the region's health care authority, to provide addictions support groups, but Pat Craig, chairman of the health and wellness group, says the problems go much deeper than addiction. He says the key to solving many of these problems may be in improving the literacy rates.

"I think that a lot of the addictions comes from unemployment and a lot of the unemployment comes from a low literacy level," Craig said.

The group says the health-care system on its own won't solve the problems — the small island community accessible only by ferry will need to pull together to find solutions.