Canada’s nightmarish opioid crisis has renewed calls for involuntary drug treatment. Does the government have a right to force users to get help?
As a teenager in Los Angeles, Marshall Smith earned a reputation as a party boy. He moved to British Columbia after high school and continued to drink throughout his twenties while working in the provincial corrections system, first as a guard and later in administrative roles. In 2001, he took a job doing municipal affairs with the provincial government, contributing to Vancouver’s bid for the 2010 Olympics. Then, one night in a club, he tried cocaine for the first time. He quickly grew addicted and also began using methamphetamine, a drug that provides raging, frenetic highs. Within months, his life and career crumbled. “I hung up my suit and tie and vanished into the streets,” he says.
