Alberta is entering election season, and an unlikely issue could prove crucial: The United Conservative Party’s plan to force chronic drug addicts into treatment, a bold but controversial measure that could have resonance for provinces across the country struggling with street violence and disorder.
The Compassionate Intervention Act — whose existence was first revealed earlier this month through an access to information request — would be Canada’s first legislation laying out a path to push an addict into treatment against their will. Although coerced treatment currently exists for criminal offenders or the severely mentally ill, this would apply specifically to chronic addicts believed to be at immediate risk to themselves or others.
