Forced rehab saves lives, U.S. police chief says of N.B. plan

A police chief in a state that allows forced rehabilitation says it can save lives, but people with lived experience with homelessness and addiction in New Brunswick say it would exacerbate public safety issues.

Public Safety Minister Kris Austin is working on legislation that could force people into addiction treatment against their will if they are a danger to themselves or the public.

Massachusetts has such a statute, said Chief Ed Conley of the Gloucester, Mass., police department.

Police, a family member or medical staff can petition a court in a hearing to get a person committed for treatment if they're at substantial risk of death.

"This is just about keeping them alive," Conley said, adding what happens once they're in rehab is up to recovery specialists.

Conley said he once tried to use the statute for a woman who was an alcoholic. She would pass out daily on sidewalks, roadsides and in wooded areas. His petition was not successful and the woman was murdered 48 hours later, said Conley.

Rebound could be worse

Using street drugs is risky, said Steve Colwell and Justice Fidler of the River Stone Recovery Centre in Fredericton. Both have accidentally overdosed and been in situations when they felt unsafe around people who were acting aggressively while on drugs.

But involuntary treatment would make matters worse, they said.

"If you just take these people that are in psychosis on the street and you rip them off the street and you throw them into this … they're going to rebound three or four times as hard as they were before," said Fidler, 26, who is in addiction recovery.

Fidler and Colwell are especially concerned that the recovery programs people could be forced into will be abstinence-based, meaning people will be forced to stop using drugs.

"Back when I was 21, at the worst of things, if you had thrown an abstinence program at me or something like that, I probably would have killed myself," said Fidler.

Who decides?

Both men wonder who will get to decide who is forced into treatment.

"You can't just give any nurse at the ER this control," Fidler said.

Neither man is excited about the prospect of police being involved.

At his low point, when Fidler was accidentally overdosing three or four times a week, he was often arrested for being where he wasn't wanted.

"They wouldn't even ask me what I'm doing or why I'm there," he said.

"It's hard. It's cold. There's rain everywhere. I was trying to find somewhere nice to sleep."

He'd get a shower, meal and clothing, but not the real help he needed.

Police can help

Conley said police can be part of the solution.

The Gloucester force now has a special unit whose main goal is to build rapport with people who have addictions and other problems such as mental health issues, he said.

Civilian employees, including a recovery coach and social worker, proactively reach out to people and support them whether they are in treatment, relapsing or going to court, said Conley.

"We want them to be successful," he said.

Compassion is key

Colwell supports the involvement of social workers, as well as people with lived experience, but said police should stay out of it as much as possible, "so the response is less authoritarian and more compassionate."

Compassion is the most important element for recovery, he said.

"Love, compassion and meeting people where they're at is huge, and unconditional love and radical acceptance saves lives."

Forcing a person into treatment is the equivalent of not listening to them, said Colwell, 35, a peer counsellor who believes being heard was a key turning point in his recovery.

The program that Fidler is in at River Stone was recommended by a friend who was in it already. He said it gives him a degree of control over how much prescribed opioid agonist medication he injects per day.

"This program is what saved me," he said.

After two years, he's been able to cut down to about a quarter of the drugs he used to take.

He hopes to eventually stop altogether, but says he has other priorities he's working on first.