Elliot Eurchuk, who appears in a pamphlet photo in 2016, died of an overdose at the age of 15 after being prescribed opioids. Families and advocates of young people addicted to illicit drugs are divided over whether minors should be forced into so-called safe care to stabilize before long-term voluntary treatment is provided. Laws vary in Canada over what constitutes involuntary detoxification for minors who are sometimes held through the emergency department after an overdose. Angie Hamilton, executive director of Scarborough-based Families for Addiction Recovery, said many young people with concomitant mental health do not have the ability, at least temporarily, to consent to initial care, but parents can not intervene. their account. This creates a deeper crisis for families who can not make potentially life-saving decisions for those who refuse treatment, Hamilton said. “You have to sit and watch them injure themselves, maybe to death.” Hamilton said even short-term protection through safe care would help young people before they have a chance to receive live treatment that could save them from a deadly overdose on increasingly toxic street drugs. “I do not think most Canadian parents understand that if their child, no matter how young, has lost control of his or her substance use, you can not intervene,” he said. “They can not legally buy cannabis or alcohol. But somehow, if they are addicted, they have a right to be stuck like that.” Hamilton said safe or involuntary care should be provided nationwide as part of society’s duty to protect minors who could be evaluated before further treatment. But that is often not available when needed, he added. British Columbia declared a public health emergency on April 14, 2016, in response to the growing number of overdose deaths, many of which are related to fentanyl opioids. Nearly 26,700 people died across the country from apparent illicit drug overdoses between January 2016 and September 2021, according to the latest figures from Health Canada. British Columbia had the highest number of deaths per capita, followed by Alberta, and the two provinces had a record number of deaths last year. Data from the BC Medical Examiner’s Office show that 115 young people under the age of 19 have died from overdoses since April 2016. For those between the ages of 19 and 29, that number has skyrocketed to 1,311 deaths. British Columbia suspended legislation almost two years ago that would allow young people to be detained for up to seven days after an overdose so they can connect with Community support. He was met with strong reactions from groups such as the BC Civil Liberties Union, several First Nations, drug users and the provincial representative for children and young people. Leslie McBain, co-founder of the BC-based advocacy group Moms Stop the Harm, said coercive intervention was the wrong approach and that any treatment should be voluntary and large enough to address many drug-related issues. such as mental illness, childhood trauma and poverty. “There is a loss of confidence when you throw a child into safe care, unintentionally,” he said. Young people may also not trust the health care system if they are involuntarily detained and become more vulnerable to toxic drugs due to their reduced tolerance while waiting for a treatment bed if they choose this route, said McBain, whose O A 25-year-old son died in 2014 after an opioid addiction. Grant Charles, an associate professor in the School of Social Work at the University of British Columbia, said all counties except BC, Prince Edward Island, Newfoundland and Labrador and counties have laws governing the use of safe care, which is done through treatment centers. not hospitals, in most cases. Alberta, Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick have provisions in their child protection legislation, while Saskatchewan and Manitoba have separate laws, Charles said. He said that even the term safe treatment, which is not limited to substance use issues, creates confusion associated with so-called safe treatment when it comes to discussions about legislation and intervention. This, combined with ideological differences, has led to inadequate action during an overdose crisis that has a significant impact on young people whose addiction and mental health issues are often treated separately, he said. “We have ideological arguments for abstract issues when we should try to keep young people alive.” In Alberta, for example, a parent or guardian of a young person under the age of 18 can seek a court order for 10 days of detox at a designated facility, said Eric Engler, a spokesman for the county deputy health and mental health minister. An application for an extension of the stay for another five days can be submitted, he added. The goal is to protect children while giving rights to parents or guardians, Engler said. Dr. Tony George, a clinical scientist at the Center for Addiction and Mental Health, said safe care offers a window of hope for young people whose developing brains are weakened by substance use to the point where they can make irrational choices. “I certainly respect the rights, but unfortunately, some of these people, if we just let them make their choice, are the path, the one-way ticket, death or some very bad outcome,” George said. The center brought together a team of experts, including a psychologist, from across Canada to meet regularly and discuss whether there is enough evidence to suggest that safe care can be a viable option “to save these children from themselves.” , he said. The goal is to develop guidelines that could be used nationally under various mental health laws across the country, while encouraging more research, he said. Rachel Staples, who found her 15-year-old son Elliott Eurchuk unresponsive in his bedroom on April 20, 2018, after becoming addicted to prescription opioids due to sports injuries, said she hoped the BC government would reinstate legislation to allow temporary , safe care for youth. “I have a dead son. I would like to force my child to take care of him without his consent? No, I would like his consent. But I would also like him alive. So, I would have taken every opportunity to be able to sit together. and someone who specializes in substance abuse care. “ Staples said the emergency care allowed by law should be backed by more living beds, which was also suggested by a jury in a forensic investigation into her son’s death. The Ministry of Mental Health and Addictions in BC reported that there are 142 beds for young people with substances in the province. However, only 67 of the beds are reserved for hospitalization and the health authorities do not have a central register of waiting times. “We know that data is a critical part of understanding how people have access to treatment and rehabilitation services across the province,” the ministry said in a written statement, adding that it was working to collect data for “configuration”. a system for better recording of waiting times “.
