Mandryk: Government dons velvet gloves for hard-line addiction policy

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One of the big problems in addressing today’s worsening drug addiction crisis is that no one can say with any certainty that their solution will produce a better outcome.

But the bigger problem may be politicians more interested in the best political outcome rather than the best outcome for drug users.

As this problem has only worsened, we are now caught somewhere between the people imploring us to be more patient in the hopes that we will eventually see better outcomes and those who are willing/eager to take a more hard-line approach to the drug crisis that’s clearly more palatable to a lot of voters.

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Sometimes, that hard-line approach will be implemented with a velvet glove, as we saw earlier this week when the Saskatchewan Party government opened a “first-of-its-kind” complex care facility for people struggling with addictions.

According to Mental Health and Addictions Minister Tim McLeod, the new 15-bed pilot for Regina — to be quickly followed by one in Saskatoon — will be a “medically supported” detention facility for intoxicated people detained by police and seen as dangerous to either themselves or those around them.

“Given the complex needs of some individuals who are being detained under SOPA (the Summary Offences Protection Act, which permits police to impose a 24-hour hold) these facilities have been designed to be medically supported so police have an alternative place where they can bring (them),” McLeod explained.

There are added complexities, especially if a criminal record is involved. But police and even some in the delivery of addictions supports see the government’s approach as proactive and compassionate.

The question, however, is whether forcing people into treatment is really any more effective.

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Prairie Harm Reduction (PHR) executive director Kayla DeMong argues that forcing people into treatment isn’t effective.

“Nobody likes to be forced into anything,” DeMong told the Leader-Post’s Angela Amato. “Substance use is a symptom. It is not the root cause, and the root cause is often linked to trauma.”

DeMong acknowledged that people are sometimes forced into treatments through court order, but noted such orders often lead to relapses, and on occasion, suicides.

“They’re left with an open wound and no coping skills,” she said. “It’s the only way they can imagine taking away the pain.”

While McLeod’s announcement was soft-sold, there’s little question that it’s all part of the Sask. Party’s hard-line approach, evident in the spring announcement that the province would no longer fund the provision of clean pipes for drug consumption.

This is in line with the even more hard-line rhetoric we are now hearing from federal Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre. He is campaigning on the notion that, if he becomes prime minister, not a single penny of federal money will support safe drug consumption programs.

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Unfortunately, supporting numbers don’t exactly suggest the status quo is working.

Those who advocate for safe consumption sites (the language has been significantly adjusted from the more specific, less palatable “safe injection” phraseology) know the ugly reality that drug deaths in the province skyrocketed to a record 484 confirmed and suspected toxicity deaths last year.

There’s a longer-term trend: overdose deaths increased by 300 per cent from 2010 to 2020.

One can legitimately cite the increased dangers of today’s more deadly and more profitable fentanyl combined with the heartless toll the COVID-19 pandemic took on addicted and impoverished people.

Advocates for safer consumption sites legitimately argue that deaths would be (or, sadly, soon will be) significantly higher without safe places for supervised consumption.

Unfortunately, Poilievre and the Sask. Party seem to have every intention of making the rising overdose numbers an election issue that they argue can only be addressed by ending the soft approach.

Also unfortunately, there’s little evidence to suggest what they’re proposing will work any better.

Mandryk is the political columnist for the Regina Leader-Post and the Saskatoon StarPhoenix.

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