It seems so simple. So basic of an idea that you wonder why it has not been implemented yet.
It is involuntary care.
As communities across the province grapple with street disorder and a sense of insecurity, involuntary care is seen by many as a solution. Politicians of all stripes have offered it up to concerned residents and businesses as a path forward.
The problem is it is unlikely to be what people are expecting. The expectation is that it will be a panacea; the reality will be quite different.
Anyone with any experience with addiction understands that the desire to beat it has to come from within the addicted or it won’t stick.
You don’t have to “want” it when your conditions are improved to the point where you don’t need it. People aren’t homeless because they are addicted, they are using drugs because they are homeless!!
Addiction is one side of it. Another side is severe mental illnesses such as schizophrenia. Unfortunately, the story for this one is quite tragic. The medications we have, antipsychotics, are effective at treating the symptoms but they come with heavy side effects that get worse over time. This means a lot of people stop taking their medication because they don’t want to deal with the side effects anymore.