Pubdate: Fri, 11 Nov 2005
Source: Province, The (CN BC)
Copyright: 2005 The Province
Contact:  http://www.canada.com/vancouver/theprovince/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/476
Author: Matthew Ramsey, The Province
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/rehab.htm (Treatment)

NO FORCED DETOX FOR DRUG-ADDLED B.C. KIDS

New Alberta Law Allows Parents To Force Treatment

B.C. will not consider legislation to allow parents to force their
drug-addicted kids into detox.

Minister of Children and Family Development Stan Hagen said he's aware
of Alberta's new bill, but it's not an example B.C. will follow.

"You cannot force people to change their lifestyle. They need to come
to that conclusion themselves," Hagen said. "You can't legislate
change in people."

The forced-treatment bill in Alberta is due to come into force in July
2006. Various government agencies are still putting the finishing
touches on the regulation, but Bill 202 is expected to allow parents
to prove in court that their kids are drug addicts, then get an
official order from the courts allowing them, or police, to pick up
their kids and check them into government-run facilities for five days
against their will.

The theory is that the five-day period would allow children 18 or
under to detox and give drug counsellors time to develop a
comprehensive treatment plan for them. Legislators in Saskatchewan are
contemplating a similar law.

Psychiatrists and human-rights workers have called Bill 202
unconstitutional and undemocratic.

While Kamloops father Mike Youds understands the complaints, and
wonders what the success rate would be in a forced treatment program,
he sees it from a different angle.

Youds' son Andrew, 19, is celebrating one year of sobriety this week
after a potentially fatal addiction to crystal meth.

A bill like Alberta's may have helped get Andrew help when he needed
it, Youds said.

"It's all very fine to say, 'What about human rights?' But in certain
circumstances it becomes necessary to achieve the greater good," Youds
told The Province.

"Otherwise, what's the alternative? Permanent mental or emotional
damage or death. How do you balance that?"
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MAP posted-by: Derek