GOOD TREATMENT KEY TO COURT-ORDERED RECOVERY

Court-ordered drug recovery is only useful when backed with
effective treatment programs, according to a senior expert on addiction.

The combination will be key as civic officials debate a host of
crime reduction initiatives that include sending drug-addicted
criminals to treatment.

Critics of the program say people forced into treatment are doomed
to fail. Addicts have to truly want treatment to succeed, they say.

However, one of the top addictions experts in the province disagrees.

Dr. Ray Baker, architect of UBC's addiction medicine program, said
the plan backed by Surrey Mayor Dianne Watts sounds workable.

Baker, a South Surrey resident, performed outcome studies on drug
courts when officials in Vancouver considered that approach.

"I did the research and what I found is it's no surprise if what you
mandate is good evidence-based treatment, you get good outcomes,"
Baker said. "If you use force to mandate poor quality treatment,
guess what? It's like garbage in, garbage out."

Simply legislating addicts into recovery will produce a "dog's
breakfast" of results, he said.

"You're going to get resentful people in a program that looks
stupid," Baker said. "It doesn't work."

He doesn't agree with critics who claim ordering people into
treatment is ineffective.

He points out companies do it frequently with employees, threatening
them with termination if they don't get off drugs.

"We do it all the time with doctors and airline pilots and we get
the highest rate of recovery out of any group in the world," Baker
said. "It works like a hot damn, they have to have something they want."

For professionals, it's often their jobs at stake - for criminals,
it's their freedom.

For various reasons, people who are successful in recovery feel
there's no longer a choice, say addictions experts.

"I've treated over 5,000 addicts, and not one of them has come to me
voluntarily," Baker said.

Watts wants to learn from Vancouver's experience and is lobbying for
a community court, rather than drug court.

Her preferred approach would enable justices to direct the accused
to a host of services including assisted housing, drug and alcohol
treatment and job training.

She's also cracking down on unregulated recovery homes in this city,
preparing a path for effective treatment.

Baker said it sounds like a successful model, but stressed the
importance of properly assessing the needs of the addicted.

"It has to be based on a good assessment and a good treatment," Baker said.

Surrey's crime reduction task force will discuss the ideas further on Sept. 18.