The Fight Over Forced Rehab

Canada's nightmarish opioid crisis has renewed calls for involuntary drug treatment. Does the government have a right to force users to get help?

- ANTHONY MILTON

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.

Smith spent the next four years haunting Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside. He lived in hotel rooms, on street corners and, at one point, in a shipping container. He was repeatedly arrested for drug possession. Smith lost a lot of weight, and his health was declining fast. One day, a police officer caught him with enough meth in his pocket to get him sentenced. The cop, who had known Smith for a few years, offered him an ultimatum: treatment or jail. Within days, Smith checked himself into a publicly funded facility in Maple Ridge, B.C., for a 35-day stay. There, he took part in group therapy, support group meetings and one-on-one counselling. It was the first time in years he'd lived without drugs, and it worked. He’s been drug-free ever since.