Pubdate: Sun, 07 Jun 2009 Source: Province, The (CN BC) Copyright: 2009 Canwest Publishing Inc. Contact: http://www.canada.com/theprovince/letters.html Website: http://www.canada.com/theprovince/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/476 Author: Ethan Baron Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/rehab.htm (Treatment) Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v09/n584/a09.html ADDICTION FIX CAN ONLY BE LONG-TERM Giving addicts a choice between jail or long-term addiction treatment could help clean up the Downtown Eastside drug problem, B.C.'s health minister says. George Abbott was responding Friday to my proposal in a column this week that addicts who collect welfare and steal to support their habits should be forced into long-term rehabilitation. Abbott cites the Charter as an obstacle to forced treatment, but says that the idea of setting up a system in which addicts convicted of crimes choose between incarceration or long-term rehab is "reasonable." "I hope for many people that once they realize the harm that the addiction is doing to their lives . . . many people [would] embrace the treatment option rather than the incarceration option," Abbott says. How a cash-strapped government now focused on warehousing addicts in Vancouver's ghetto would actually pay for facilities to treat thousands of the addicted is a big question. But Abbott acknowledges that putting the typical Downtown Eastside drug addict in long-term drug treatment would be cheaper than leaving that person to collect welfare, steal, and visit emergency rooms. High-level discussions have taken place about expanding the long-term-care model used at the province's 100-bed Burnaby Centre for Mental Health and Addictions, but more evaluation must be done on the outcomes there, Abbott says. Possible expansion sites could include Riverview Hospital in Coquitlam, Abbott says. Judges' options for diverting addicts into drug treatment include conditional sentences that substitute rehab for jail, and probation orders that mandate treatment, says Patty Stark, a defence lawyer at Vancouver's drug and community courts. But Stark believes that those who choose rehab to avoid jail wouldn't succeed unless they wanted to clean up. However, the Baldy Hughes Therapeutic Community near Prince George, founded by former B.C. MLA Lorne Mayencourt, has been working with police and Crown counsel on a pilot project to divert addicts into their long-term program via conditional sentences. Seven residents at the centre are there on such arrangements, says facility director Marshall Smith. "I do believe that forcing people into treatment can work," Smith says. "It's a very common sort of old adage that the addict's got to want to change, and typically that's true. "The problem is when you're out in active addiction, you're not capable of making those decisions. Once there's a period of stabilization, then nine times out of 10 the addict will seek the treatment, or go along with the treatment." David Pavlus, founder of the 25-year-old Last Door long-term treatment centre in New Westminster, also believes forced treatment can work. During a visit to a respected long-term addiction facility in California, he spoke with recovered addicts who had been court-ordered into treatment. "A lot of them were saying, 'I felt like I got saved,'" Pavlus says. Response to my column on forced treatment was torrential. The vast majority of readers strongly supported my view, including Rick Frey, father of one of serial killer Robert Pickton's victims. Marnie Frey might not have died if she had been forced into drug treatment, Rick Frey says. "It seems archaic to say, 'lock them up,' but they are in no condition to make their own choices," Frey says. "We took Marnie to rehab so many times but the system never had the power to hold [her]. She was a great, caring person but had no control over her addiction. "It seems like all we are doing is feeding their habit and waiting for them to die." The most compelling argument against my proposal came from B.C. Civil Liberties Association executive director David Eby and drug court defence lawyer Jeremy Guild, who believe most drug addicts in the Downtown Eastside wouldn't need to be coerced into long-term treatment. If facilities were available, "the majority of those people would be interested in a service like that," Eby says. Eby says 200 to 500 of the 5,000 addicts in the Downtown Eastside are so far gone in their addictions and mental illness that they aren't capable of making rational decisions. Those severe cases could be directed into long-term drug treatment under the B.C. Mental Health Act, he says. At present, when police take those citizens into custody, they are usually held for a day or two in hospital then released back onto the streets, where no effective support services for them exist, Eby adds. But the majority of addicts in the area are capable of rational decision-making, and forcing them into treatment would violate their civil rights, Eby says. "If you want to take your welfare cheque and spend the whole thing on crack, that's your right," Eby says. "It's our moral obligation to offer them a way out of it, but it's their right to make that stupid decision." Guild, lead duty counsel at Vancouver's drug court, says many addicts want treatment, but can't get it. In addition to drastic expansion of drug-treatment facilities, much more must to be done to prevent young people from becoming addicts, Guild says. "Shouldn't we be dealing with addiction way earlier, like before it starts?" Guild says. Education and early-intervention programs would attack the addiction problem at its roots, Guild says. I couldn't agree more. And whether we force addicts into treatment or make it a matter of choice, the solution to this problem is a vastly expanded system of long-term treatment. It's worth the money. Just ask George Abbott. - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom