United Conservative Party Leader Danielle Smith, running for reelection as premier of Alberta, announced she will introduce a Compassionate Intervention Act to allow family members of drug addicts to petition the court for involuntary treatment.
Smith said the Compassionate Intervention Act would allow for a family member, doctor, psychologist, or police officer to make a petition to a specially-appointed, non-criminal judge to issue a treatment order.
“The court would be able to divert an addict in imminent danger to themselves or others to treatment instead of jail. This step would be a last resort in order to save lives, and to prevent the overdose deaths, assaults, and attacks happening as a result of drug use,” she said.
“Addiction touches almost everyone. People struggling with addiction are on our streets and no family is being spared. Each and every one is someone’s son, daughter, husband, wife, mother, or father,” she added. Smith called addiction a deadly and destructive illness that “destroys potential and endangers lives,” while contributing to “social disorder and out-of-control violence.”
“We need to have an honest conversation about how to help people who suffer from mental illness and addiction, especially when it crosses the line and impacts other people’s right to be safe in our province,” said Smith.
Smith had harsh words for Vancouver, which provides supply and distribution of drugs to addicts at taxpayer expense and funds supervised “consumption” sites where drug addicts can use hard drugs with free needles.
“The answer to addiction and public safety is not more drugs or ignorance or looking the other way and hoping for the best. It’s stepping forward with compassion, intervention, treatment, and recovery, while also having zero tolerance for actual crime,” Smith said.
An accompanying news release on May 15 provided more details of the plan, noting that the UCP government has added 10,000 fully funded addiction treatment spaces since being elected in 2019 and can now provide detox and drug addiction recovery for up to 29,000 Albertans each year at no charge. A previous user fee of $40 a day in place during the NDP government prior to 2019 was also eliminated, said the news release.
“Treatment orders would vary depending on the individual and their needs and circumstances and could include evidence-based medication treatment (Opioid Agonist Treatment or OAT), outpatient counseling, medical detox, inpatient addiction treatment, recovery communities, etc.,” said the UCP.
“If someone is a danger to themselves or others we need to intervene and provide treatment and support for recovery. Voluntary treatment will continue to be our priority, but for some this is necessary. It’s more successful than doing nothing and waiting for them to die of an overdose or hurt someone else. We’ve also seen great success with treatment orders in drug courts,” the UCP stated.
Affects Families
Smith was joined at the news conference by First Nations elders, parents, and recovering addicts.One mother said her son was only alive today due to “assertive intervention when he could no longer make decisions to keep himself safe.”
“By the age of 17, he had been admitted to mental health wards 14 times, stayed at six group homes, and a court-ordered stay at a safe house,” said the mother.
“He had overdosed multiple times as addiction took control of his and our lives. And the two weeks prior to attending treatment, our heart said goodbye to him twice as he was resuscitated and placed on life support. The pain was unbearable.” She said the family spent seven years in “consuming worry.”
“Intervention was our only option. It is hard to understand the anguish of this journey until you love somebody who struggles with addiction.”
Deseré Pressey said both her daughters fell into addiction. “Our lives were consumed by fear and desperation,” she said. “My daughters were literally dying in front of my eyes. No matter how dark it got, including a suicide attempt and multiple overdoses, my daughters were still convinced they were in control of their drug use,” said the mother. “Every morning I opened their bedroom doors, I was braced for the very real possibility that they might have overdosed.”
Pressey told the news conference her daughters would not be alive today, if it was not for a judge who granted an emergency order to place her unwilling children into treatment.
“Today, I’m proud to say that my daughters have emerged from the depths of addiction as resilient warriors. They are living proof that intervention and long term drug treatment can lead to incredible personal growth and lasting recovery,” said Pressey. “Recovery is not an individual effort,” she added. She said it takes a “community willing to step into someone’s addiction.”
“Every parent out there deserves to have the ability to save their child’s life no matter what it takes,” she added.
Abby Plesa, 19, who said she was an addict now in recovery, also shared her story. She said her family saved her life by forcing her into treatment.
“Before my parents intervened, I was struggling with addiction for a total of six years. It started with the use of marijuana at 12 years old and quickly progressed to using methamphetamines and opioids at the age of 14. I was lost, alone, and hopeless. I experienced multiple overdoses, suicide attempts, trips to the police station and psych ward.”
“I hated anyone or anything that stood between myself and my drug use, and I was a danger to myself and others living in a world of darkness without a way out,” Plesa said.
When she was 16, she said her family had finally experienced enough pain. “They had the courage to step into my addiction and get a court order that placed me into detox before entering a long-term treatment program. My parents were scared for my life and had no other choice,” she said.
Plesa is now three years sober and attending school for a degree in nursing. “This final intervention saved my life,” she said.
Earl Thiessen, an executive director of Oxford House, a pre-addiction treatment recovery centre, also shared his story. He said he was in long-term recovery for 15 years, after spending seven years homeless on the streets of Calgary due to a 20-year addiction.
“I would not be here today if it were not for the intervention and support of a Provincial Court judge,” said Thiessen, who said he is Indigenous and pleased that the First Nations Community was being involved in the proposed program.
“My wife and I are now raising my sister-in-law’s baby after she lost her life to a fatal overdose ... She left behind a one-year-old baby and a teenage son. We knew she was in trouble with addiction and we had no way to intervene,” he said. “If this Act had been in place, then she may still be alive today.”
“Many people are so entrenched in their addiction that they cannot consciously decide to get help,” Thiessen added.
The UCP has committed to creating more than 700 new treatment beds across 11 new treatment centres called “recovery communities” if reelected. Four of the new recovery centres will be built in partnership with Indigenous communities including Kainai Nation, Enoch Cree Nation, Siksika Nation, and Tsuut’ina Nation.
The UCP said mental health treatment is a key priority, and committed to building five new 75-bed mental health wellness centres, adding 375 additional inpatient beds.
