Justice Minister and Solicitor General Doug Schweitzer announced a new drug treatment court for Red Deer earlier this month. (rdnewsNOW/Josh Hall)

By Josh Hall (Twitter: @Vancan19)

part of a bigger puzzle

Drug treatment courts not ideal for all, critics say

Jun 19, 2020 | 4:03 PM

Not everyone involved with addictions treatment is convinced that drug treatment courts are an effective way of helping people who use drugs to recover.

Justice Minister Doug Schweitzer announced last week that Red Deer will be home to a drug treatment court (DTC) by the end of 2021.

“Our government will be opening a drug treatment court in Red Deer to reduce crime by offering treatment to those struggling with addiction to help get their lives back on track,” the minister said at Red Deer City Hall.

On its website, the John Howard Society, which oversees drug treatment court operations in Edmonton, says participants receive intensive supervision through weekly case management and probation involvement, weekly court attendance to speak to the Judge, and random and regular drug urinalysis screens. Participants are required to be actively engaged in daily and ongoing programming while in the drug treatment court.

Christine Harris, a well-known voice in the local harm reduction scene, says at best, drug treatment courts are part of a much bigger puzzle.

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“This is a great thing for some people, an amazing thing actually for people who are ready to take these steps. For others, it could actually set them up to fail,” she says, referencing how participants who quit or are expelled go back into regular criminal proceedings. “We’re setting people up to fail with a system of shame and blame.”

Harris’s son was using drugs in 2012 when he died in a Vancouver hospital from blood poisoning.

“They’re putting this (court) in place in Red Deer at a time when other things like housing, and access to detox and treatment are so much more needed. So why is this suddenly the number one thing on the list?”

The vision for drug courts is laudable, says the Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network (CHALN), who voiced “significant concerns” in a 2011 report and stands by them today in speaking with rdnewsNOW.

“The therapeutic jurisprudence model embedded in the DTC system significantly alters the therapeutic, health-centred nature of drug treatment, emphasizing abstinence as the primary — and in some cases, only — measure of success,” the report concludes.

“The traditional judicial process is also dramatically altered where defence counsel, the Crown, the judge and treatment providers all work as a team; this model can undermine due process protections established in the traditional judicial process.”

The report also suggests the requirement for someone to plead guilty in order to take part in the program potentially undermines human rights.

Adding that reported graduation rates are low, and that data on recidivism is low, the report recommends improvements including better protection of human rights, expansion of services alongside treatment, gender-specific and culturally appropriate services, and better evaluation of the the real impact of DTCs.

The John Howard Society website also notes that 70 per cent of its graduates have not had new criminal convictions, but does not say at which rate participants actually graduate.

A March 2019 special report written by United Nations experts Mr. Diego Garcia-Sayan and Mr. Dainius Puras finds, “Ultimately, people with substance use disorders who get treatment through the criminal justice system are still “criminals”, and the symptoms of their illness punished as if the illness itself were a crime.”

It goes on to say that some drug courts prevent participants from accessing medically prescribed treatment for other chronic health problems, further describing this as unethical and dangerous.

Jonah Mozeson, Alberta Ministry of Justice Senior Press Secretary, says in a statement, “We understand that some are content to just perpetuate harmful addiction indefinitely. We believe that recovery is far more desirable, and drug courts can play an important role in that.”

The provincial government has announced drug treatment courts for Red Deer and Lethbridge, with three more locations yet to be determined. They have been operating in Edmonton since 2005 and Calgary since 2007.