FORCED DETOX OPEN TO ABUSE, LAWYER WARNS

Parents Not Always Truthful, Civil Libertarian Claims

EDMONTON -- Alberta's forced detox program for young addicts will
lead to abuse by vengeful parents, the head of the Alberta Civil
Liberties Association says.

The Protection of Children Abusing Drugs Act will let parents or
guardians seek court orders to confine their children in
detoxification centres for five days, starting July 1. Detox staff
will then try persuading the minors to undergo longer, voluntary drug
treatment.

Parents are not always truthful, and the law provides the children no
chance to protest before they are locked up, says Stephen Jenuth,
president of the civil liberties association.

"It allows for considerable abuse," Jenuth said Friday from his
Calgary law office. He said he can think of "five or six cases where
parents have been alleging that their kids are on drugs and they want
them to do something, and the kids have nothing to do with drugs.

"The parents can tell a good story, but it turns out not to be very
true. You get very strange and dysfunctional families."

MLAs passed the law unanimously last year after hearing that may be
the only way to save some youths who are on methamphetimines. Red
Deer MLA Mary Anne Jablonski, who spearheaded the legislation, said
young addicts and parents pleaded for government action.

Jenuth said a big flaw in the law is parents can tell a judge what
they want done without their children's knowledge. He said minors
should at least be told there's an application against them so they
can give their stories.

The law entitles them to a hearing once they are in detox "but it's
not a real right," he said.

A youth could be held through a weekend before a legal-aid lawyer can
arrange the hearing before a judge, Jenuth said.

The Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse, established by Parliament,
monitors international addictions findings to help guide policy. Chad
Dubeau, a information specialist with the centre, said a check Friday
turned up no research on whether people in Alberta-style compulsory
detox are likely to go on to voluntary treatment.

Since Alberta introduced its legislation, Saskatchewan and Manitoba
have brought in similar laws. The Northwest Territories is
considering it.

The job of overseeing Alberta's detox program falls to the Alberta
Alcohol and Drug Abuse Commission. Calgary MLA Dave Rodney, AADAC
chairman, termed the law "groundbreaking in Canada and North America."

The legislation avoids the need for parents to warn young addicts
about applications to put them in detox, Rodney acknowledged. "And
isn't that great?"

He said if he was on the street, seriously addicted to crystal meth
and not interested in treatment, "I would hope to God there'd be
legislation like this where somebody could pick me up, take me to a
safe house, get detoxed and assessed so that they could give me some
options."

The law, he said, "is a gift to the people. This is for those extreme
cases in which sometimes parents don't even know where their children
are."

While the confinement limit of five days will be too little to
persuade some minors to get treatment, it will be "more than enough
for others," Rodney said. "We do know, though, that we couldn't hold
people much longer than five days and withstand a charter challenge."