The Compassionate Intervention Act was passed this week in Saskatchewan allowing for involuntary addictions treatment to support individuals with severe addictions who are not capable of seeking help. “We have to help these people,” Mayor Drew Dilkens said. “It’s almost inhumane to think that some of the people we see on the streets are actually going to self-heal. We know this isn’t going to happen.” Dilkens has never advocated for simply picking someone off the street and “warehousing” them in the system. He points to the 90s when fewer people were living on the streets. “They were harmless. They didn’t impact businesses. People didn’t feel unsafe to do downtown when they saw feather hat man. Everyone was able to co-exist,” he said. “Now you have people who are saying I don’t like some of the behaviours that I see and those behaviours aren’t necessarily criminal.” But Dilkens says those behaviours are discouraging people from visiting the downtown area. “At some point as a nation we have to wake up and say this is not going to get any better,” he said. “We have to do something different. Involuntary treatment, in my humble opinion, is a big part of the pathway to getting to the other side of the problem.” Windsor Tecumseh MPP Andrew Dowie says he applauds city council for trying to be part of the solution and feels saying no to forms of treatment and to an approach that leads to better outcomes isn’t helpful. “I will continue to be open minded and hear the feedback, receive the feedback and ensure that’s carried over to the minister of health and the associate minister of mental health and addictions,” Dowie said. DJ MacNeil is the director of mental health and addictions at Hotel Dieu Grace Healthcare and feels more research needs to be done. “I think we need to conduct some good research to get a clearer picture of does involuntary addiction care work and if it does work who does it work for and I don’t think we have that answer right now,” MacNeil told CTV News. “It’s not to say it could never work or isn’t the right thing for certain cases, but we don’t have enough science and evidence right now to know who it is even going to work for.” He points out medication is tested and so should interventions. MacNeil would like to ensure an intervention is safe, effective, and has been tested. He says a combination of healthcare agencies and post secondary institutions need to be involved to pilot programs and carry out research. “It’s a real community intervention to address something like addiction,” he said. Windsor West MPP Lisa Gretzky would like to see more investment in mental health and addiction supports as well as more affordable and supportive housing. “So that people who are struggling with addiction, not just with drugs but with alcohol as well, have somewhere to go where they’re supported by professionals and we need investment into the connected services and that means investing in the frontline workers that actually provide those services,” she said. Gretzky points to data that shows people have to be ready to receive help. “When you are forcing them into treatment, data shows that often that is not successful. In most cases it is not successful and there’s actually a greater risk of someone dying of an overdose post forced treatment than there is if you wait for someone to be ready to receive that treatment.” Currently patients in Ontario can only be detained for assessment for up to 72 hours, with potential extensions if they meet specific criteria.
