“This is about love:” protest held outside of courthouse against involuntary drug addiction treatment

“This is a reactionary and political decision to expand involuntary treatment, and I don’t believe it’s rooted in science or the lived experiences of people who use drugs,” said Grace Burke, a co-organizer of the protest.

Among the protestors was Corrine Woods, another member of Moms Stop the Harm who lost her son to a drug overdose. She worries that involuntary care isn’t the best move, as she believes voluntary care supports are severely lacking and she would rather see investment here instead.

“I believe it is really, really wrong because there isn’t successful or proper voluntary care. We have thousands and thousands of kids who lose their life who did ask for help. They go to the hospital, they ask their family physicians for help, they go to detox, sometimes they do go to a treatment plant (…) Our kids are asking for voluntary help and they’re not receiving it,” Woods said.

“What really isn’t being seen is these kids aren’t getting the voluntary care that they need first. If we had voluntary care, we wouldn’t need to force our kids into involuntary care,” she continued.

Even if involuntary care is expanded, Miller believes additional concerns could arise, primarily capacity. Explaining the voluntary care already suffers from capacity and accessibility concerns, and the involuntary care she’s seen has already been at or over capacity, she believes continuing to push for more involuntary treatment could result in tragic consequences.

“Are they displacing them like they displaced my son into the Lower Mainland for a forensic assessment? It didn’t work for him. He ended up on the streets of Vancouver, not knowing anyone, lost and scared and placed in an SRO (single room occupancy) government funded, bug infested SRO, and he died alone by himself, without family and friends,” Miller said.

Beyond the NDP and Conservatives, there are many examples of former drug users who say involuntary treatment saved their lives, so for those in support of expanding involuntary treatment there are cases where it has seen great success. While some protestors acknowledged it can work, they believe the harm it can cause outweighs the good.

“There’s a lot of people who get out of involuntary care, reuse, relapse, and are dying in mass amounts,” Miller said.

While the protestors certainly believe something has to be done to address the drug crisis, those gathered today are pushing back strongly against involuntary care as an option.

Local news. Delivered. Free. Subscribe to our daily news wrap and get our top local stories delivered to your inbox every evening.

by Tommy Osborne

“This is about love:” protest held outside of courthouse against involuntary drug addiction treatment

What's Trending