B.C.'S GALLANT ATTEMPTS TO SAVE ADDICTED HAVE FAILED

Provincial court system used to get people the help they needed, Thomas Gove writes.

In the 1970s I was a young lawyer. In 1990, I was appointed as a judge to the provincial court of B.C.

Some of the people I represented as a lawyer and later judged were addicted, usually to heroin, also to alcohol.

In my early years there was legislation that gave judges the option to send these folks to residential treatment programs. B.C. Corrections ran various programs, centred on Maple Ridge as well as the Chilliwack Valley, that aimed to give offenders their health back and some work skills in order that, when they were released, they could create a productive life and not be seen in the court system again.

The emphasis was to protect the community through rehabilitation. Corrections even ran a forestry camp styled after Outward Bound. In the 1970s, B.C. was recognized as a pioneer in helping to reform offenders.

Sadly, that has changed. Back then, there were non-governmental, publicly funded residential programs that offenders could agree to attend as a term of probation, such as those run by the Salvation Army.

Those with severe mental illnesses could be ordered to treatment at Riverview Hospital.

Since then, unfortunately, the drug-alcohol-mental health world in B.C. has deteriorated. The forestry camps are no more, the private treatment programs are underfunded, and the mental health hospital is effectively closed.

Drugs more dangerous than heroin are readily available on the street.

Correctional centres seem to have become places to warehouse offenders until their inevitable release.

When I last worked as a judge, in 2021, there were a few wellrun private residential programs. However, most addicted offenders did not have the funds to pay the fees. There were only a limited number of good, publicly funded and regulated residential programs where the typical offender could get treatment — often after a long wait.

Sometimes, to avoid jail, offenders would ask to go to one of dozens of unregulated houses where success was only a dream.

The B.C. government did open the Burnaby Centre for Mental Health and Addictions, which was a step in the right direction, but it had problems: a very long waiting list and residents could leave whenever they wanted. Drug dealers also had pretty easy access.

This program is now closed and there is a similar program on the old Riverview Hospital site, with a limited number of residents.

Thinking about the years that I spent in criminal court and at the Downtown Community Court, working to help drug addicted offenders, I think it's fair to say that the situation in B.C. for someone who needs publicly funded treatment in an effective residential program has become worse, not better.

I asked the question regularly when I was a judge and ask again today: Why are residents of B.C., who are addicted to drugs and possibly mentally ill, not treated as patients of the health care system? Are we, as a society, fulfilling our duty of care toward our most vulnerable citizens?

Provincial government programs such as Road to Recovery and Pathway to Hope have been in the planning stages since 2017 yet we have seen no urgency in moving toward providing comprehensive treatment for those who are in need.

Recently, while the provincial government is now moving to limit public use of deadly drugs, decriminalization continues, with treatment seemingly as an afterthought.

The recent changes to B.C. drug policy are, of course, centred on mindful concern for addicts. To reduce deaths by overdose, we have safe injection sites, synthetic alternate drugs and safer supply. In an attempt to avoid stigmatizing addicts, it is no longer criminal to possess most drugs.

While these programs are geared to keep addicts alive, nowhere do I see a major push to assist them from drug addiction toward a life of pride and purpose.

If we are spending enormous amounts to keep them alive but there is no change in their addiction or the direction of their lives, are we being neglectful?

Meanwhile, the media rightly report that supplying and allowing the public use of serious drugs, even in hospitals, has led not only to increased deaths from drug overdose, but also to increased crime and chaos.

The public's tolerance is eroding.

While B.C. has embarked on a gallant enterprise to save drug addicts, it is not working.

Drugs more dangerous than heroin are readily available on the street.

Decriminalization and distribution of dangerous drugs for unsupervised community use, with no expectation of treatment, was miscalculated.

The results are evident in communities right across B.C.

Quite simply, if we believe we are morally and ethically bound to fulfil our duty of care to every citizen, we must offer meaningful, comprehensive support and treatment to our drug-addicted neighbours in order for them to move toward a hopeful and meaningful future.