Families are divided over care for addicted youth
Families and advocates of youth addicted to illicit drugs are divided over whether minors should be forced into so-called secure care to stabilize them before longer-term voluntary treatment could be provided.
“I don’t think most Canadian parents understand that if their child, no matter how young, has lost control over their substance use, you can’t intervene,” she said. Nearly 26,700 people died across the country of apparent illicit drug overdoses between January 2016 and September 2021, the latest data from Health Canada shows. British Columbia recorded the highest number of deaths per capita, followed by Alberta, and both provinces hit a record level of fatalities last year.
Leslie McBain, a co-founder of the B.C.-based advocacy group Moms Stop the Harm, said forced intervention is the wrong approach, and any kind of treatment should be voluntary and long enough to address multiple issues related to drug use, like mental illness, childhood trauma and poverty.
That, combined with ideological differences, has led to inadequate action during an overdose crisis that is having a major impact on youth whose addiction and mental health issues are often treated separately, he said. The centre has brought together a group of experts, including an ethicist, from across Canada to regularly meet and discuss whether there’s enough evidence suggesting secure care may be a viable option “to save these kids from themselves,” he said.