Pubdate: Fri, 04 Dec 2015
Source: Prince George Citizen (CN BC)
Copyright: 2015 Prince George Citizen
Contact:  http://www.princegeorgecitizen.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/350
Author: Mark Nielsen

PROVINCE RELUCTANT TO SUPPORT CALL FOR FORCED DETOX FOR YOUTH

The provincial government is responding with caution to a revived call
from B.C.'s Children and Youth Representative Mary-Ellen Turpel-Lafond
for "secure care" for youth struggling with drug addiction following
the takedown of a drug house in Prince George two weeks ago.

The approach would require youth to enter detox, even if it's against
their will.

In an email, a Ministry of Children and Family Development spokesman
said it is "widely agreed" that voluntary services "are the most
effective means of addressing addiction issues, which are often
concurrent with mental health problems."

Turpel-Lafond's suggestion would "require the enactment of specialized
legislation authorizing the involuntary detainment of youth," the
spokesman said.

"This would require establishing specialized and expensive new
facilities and programs. The potential costs and benefits of such an
approach must be carefully considered."

It was an idea Turpel-Lafond first raised in a report she issued in
May following the death of an aboriginal girl from a drug overdose in
Vancouver's Downtown Eastside shortly after her 19th birthday.

Turpel-Lafond raised the possibility again this week, following the
RCMP's takedown of an 1837 Spruce St. home on Nov. 19.

All of the 15 people arrested that night were adults, Prince George
RCMP Cpl. Craig Douglass said this week, but a 14-year-old girl and a
15-year-old boy were apprehended during an RCMP raid on the same home
in August.

Douglass said the two teens' guardians and MCFD were
notified.

"We release them into somebody's care, somebody who's responsible,
whether it be a parent in a state that could be responsible or whether
it be MCFD if we can't find that," Douglass said.

"But we would always notify MCFD even if the kids didn't live there
and the parents knew nothing about it and the parents were good
parents and we took them to them."

He said there always remained the possibility that youth were passing
through the home even if none were found on the night of the Nov. 19
raid, when police were called to a report of someone pointing a
firearm inside the home.

They arrived to find thousands of used needles strewn about the home
and described it as a flophouse for drug users.

In an interview, Turpel-Lafond told The Citizen the idea behind
"secure care" is to put youth into detox "to the point where they can
actually get their judgment back again."

"These kids are very disregulated... they may be with a parent that's
an IV drug user, they may be staying up all night, sleeping during the
day, taking drugs.

"Their capacity to make a decision is significantly impaired and you
can't return them to that environment and say 'oh, at nine o'clock
tomorrow morning during banker's hours, pop into my office and talk
about your issues.'"

Turpel-Lafond said she has heard through her own sources that there is
a population in Prince George of "high-risk" youth, who are drug users.

She said she is also working on behalf of "at least one youth" who
hasn't been able to find a safe placement in Prince George.

"This is a complex topic," Turpel-Lafond said. "It isn't just a matter
of are there 10 kids or 11 kids or was there two needles or 5,000
needles or 10,000 needles. This about the fact that there is a known
problem in Prince George and how we will come to grips with that known
problem."

In a separate response, MCFD also said a two-person RCMP high risk
youth task force - consisting of a civilian member and an RCMP officer
- - has been in place for three years, that focuses on youth who have
started to engage in criminal activity and high risk behaviours.
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MAP posted-by: Matt