These parents say jail is the safest place for their son, after B.C.'s addiction treatment system failed him

EDITOR'S NOTE — May 29, 2023: This story has been updated to remove the names of a Vancouver Island couple and their adult son, as the son was not contacted before being identified in the story.

Earlier this fall, a Vancouver Island couple stood in front of a judge in a Victoria, B.C., courtroom and asked that their son be kept in jail.

The family, who lives in Saanich, B.C., have been fighting for nine years to get help for their son, who they say is addicted to fentanyl and suffers from ADHD and the after-effects of a brain tumour. 

But with no treatment that has worked, no mental health supports, and no available housing for their son, the parents have concluded jail is the safest place for him.

They are among many B.C. families struggling to find adequate treatment for their addicted children — a place that won't kick out addicts after a relapse and will work with them for longer than a couple of months to keep them safe and healthy. 

"We're capable, competent adults and we are so frustrated and so exhausted from this system," said the mother, who is no longer married to the father of the son who went through the addiction system.

"It has been incredibly traumatic and totally soul destroying." 

A boy who loved animals

As a kid growing up in Saanich, the son raised ducks and chickens. One time he brought home an orphaned baby deer to care for. 

When he was 15, his parents say he had his first grand mal seizure. A few months later, he was diagnosed with a brain tumour in the frontal lobe of his brain — the part that controls impulse control and judgment. A five-hour surgery and 55 stitches later, the tumour was gone.

The teen appeared physically fine, but psychologically he was changed, according to his family.

The couple says their son struggled to sleep and began to self-medicate with marijuana. Then he moved on to cocaine, crystal meth, and heroin. By age 18, his parents suspected he was selling small amounts of drugs. By 19, he'd been arrested. 

He is now 24, addicted to fentanyl, and has racked up a series of charges for what his parents call "survival crimes." His parents say he told them this summer, he hopes he dies. 

In and out of treatment centres

He has tried a few stints at voluntary, abstinence-based treatment centres, which have zero tolerance for relapse. Each time, the couple says it's failed for reasons that are frustrating.

The father drove across the province to drop off his son at one, only to hear a staff person tell him he wouldn't last a week. He left days later, saying he was treated poorly.

Another time, several days after detoxing, their son was taken to a sober event and given the responsibility of watching the front door, where someone gave or sold him some heroin. He got caught, and was found later in an alley off East Hastings Street. 

The father says he believes the treatment centres are "churning [their clients] out." 

"It doesn't set them up for success," he said. "It sets them up to actually be repeat clients."

Each time, before starting treatment, their son goes through a painful detox period, often locked away in a motel under the care of his dad.

And each time treatment fails, they say they watch their son return to the homeless camps, parks, and streets of Vancouver and Victoria. His dad then goes walking and driving, looking for his tent to make sure his boy is still alive. 

In their election platform this fall, the B.C. NDP committed to building new treatment, recovery, and detox facilities, with some specifically for people under 24. It also committed to building complex care housing. 

Outgoing Mental Health and Addictions Minister Judy Darcy said in an interview that this family's experience illustrates the wide range of stories of how people come to struggle with addiction, and the complexity of providing treatment. 

Darcy pulled back on Bill 22 — which would change the B.C. Mental Health Act to allow youth to be involuntarily hospitalized for a week after they overdose — after it was criticized by legal and youth advocates who say it would do more harm than good. 

"There were parents who were saying it didn't go far enough ... and there were people who believe it was an improper use of the Mental Health Act," Darcy said. "So that remains a very, very controversial issue and one that the next minister and the next government will have to continue to grapple with."

In a broken system, jail is the best option

The family says the longest drug-free window for their son in the past six years happened in jail.

Three months into his stay, he started working to finish Grade 12 English. He was seeming more like himself. 

But when he was released after five months, his parents say there was no housing, no mental health or psychiatric support, and no addiction treatment to help him to continue to heal and begin to rebuild a life. 

Without those supports, their son relapsed and ended up back in jail, where his parents feel he's safest. 

So for now, in a year when more than 1,200 British Columbians have died so far from drug overdoses, the couple says their son waits in jail, spitting mad at his parents, as they try to figure out a plan. 

"As parents, if your kid was putting a gun to his head many times a day and playing Russian roulette, wouldn't we want to intervene?" said the mother. "That fix — is that going to be the one that kills them?"