Pubdate: Mon, 14 Sep 2015
Source: Toronto Star (CN ON)
Copyright: 2015 The Toronto Star
Contact:  http://www.thestar.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/456
Author: Joe Fiorito
Page: 21

WE CAN'T AFFORD TO CUT BACK THIS DRUG PROGRAM

Toronto's Drug Treatment Court has been forced to make budget cuts;
the cuts will not save money, and will put lives at risk.

The Toronto Drug Treatment Court may be the best thing we do. Through
the TDTC, we offer an alternative to jail for those who get nailed on
drug or drug-related charges; instead of going to the slammer, men and
women get a chance to choose treatment.

This is breathtakingly simple, and it achieves several seemingly
impossible goals at once: it helps men and women break the cycle of
drugs, crime and the law; it saves money by cutting the cost of
enforcement; it keeps the city safer by reducing certain kinds of
crime; oh, and it saves lives. We should be doubling and redoubling
our efforts.

And yet we are forced to cut back.

Robin Cuff is the manager of the TDTC. She works out of the Centre for
Addiction and Mental Health. You'd like her because has a big heart
and she is tough and smart and quick to laugh, but mention the cut and
her eyes well up.

She said, "We serve people who have long addiction histories with
crack, with opiates, with meth, and who have a long criminal history
of non-violent crime - theft, break-ins, low-level dealing."

How do people hear about the program? "We have police liaison;
sometimes the police will mention it to someone who has been arrested.
The duty counsels all know about it. And we have a community advisory
program involving people from justice, from housing, from addictions,
from harm reduction."

What's the incentive? She is emphatic, and realistic. "You get out of
jail. We're not naive - sometimes that's the motivation - but
sometimes people realize that it's time for a change. You get not just
treatment, but help with housing, and with health care."

Why is that important for us to help people instead of punishing them?
"If you look at our jails - we have criminalized mental illness,
addiction, trauma, race and poverty."

I draw your eye to one quick point in the midst of that list: chronic
drug use is almost always related, in some way, to trauma. The usual
course of action? We jail people who are caught in the grip to trauma,
in order to traumatize them further.

How stupid is that? Because the thing about prison is that everyone
who goes in comes out better at being bad.

Drug Treatment Court aims to reverse the damage. It began here in
December of 1998 when Justice Bentley began to note a revolving door
of repeat offenders. He did some research. He approached CAMH.

The rest is the history of us at our best.

Robin said, "We serve 160 people a year. That's not a lot, but the
program is a minimum of 12 months, and most people stay between 18-24
months.

"We use a lot of harm reduction principles, No one is punished for
slipping but we expect people to be truthful, and to tell the judge if
they've used crack that week."

In other words, slippage is not fatal. And that provides a safety net
for those who are battling addiction. She said, "We never go a week
without someone walking through who didn't finish, but who knows they
can come back." I love persistence.

OK, what about the money?

She said, "The budget is $750,000. But we recently had a funding
reduction of 20 per cent. Actually it's more than that because we've
had no increases for the past ten years."

The reason for the reduction? And if you have teeth, prepare to gnash
them now: "As of April, the feds decided to download the money to the
provinces, so that the program could be provided in provinces that did
not have it."

That sounds good on the surface, but the feds did not increase the pot
- - they just cut the pie in smaller slices. Absurdly, the feds can now
argue that no money has been cut, while at the same time the arguing
that the program has been extended.

In fact, Drug Treatment Court has been cut hard where it is needed the
most. Toronto has lost three and a half staff positions over the
years. Robin does not know if more money can be found.

Frankly, I think this is a health issue. It is also an issue in which
the cops have a stake. Oh, hell, we all have a stake.

A final note: at the moment, there is a waiting list to get into the
TDTC. Robin winced and said, "When people hear there's a waiting list
they don't apply, because they'll have to wait in jail." In other
words, people make a practical calculation: if I have to do time in
order to avoid doing time, I might as well do time.

A small observation:

There is no waiting list for jail.
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MAP posted-by: Matt