Guest Editorial

CHILD ABUSE LAW PROVES ITS WORTH

A year after coming into effect, the province's landmark law aimed at
protecting children from the scourge of drug and alcohol abuse has
proven its worth.

The Protection of Children Abusing Drugs Act allows a parent or
guardian of a child who is using alcohol or drugs in a way that is
endangering their lives to apply to the courts to have the child
taken into protective custody.

Once in custody, the child is taken to a safe house for up to five
days, where he or she is offered detoxification service and assessment.

Officials also work with the child to develop a voluntary treatment
plan. To date, almost 400 children have been taken into the program,
with 229 agreeing following their week in custody to continue with
volunteer recovery programs.

"It provides an opportunity to reach out to a child that may have
resisted seeking help voluntarily or is in danger to themselves or to
others," said MLA Dave Rodney, who spearheaded the new law. "We have
connected youth and families we may otherwise not have been able to
help," added Harvey Cenaiko, AADAC chairman.

While some people have argued over the past year that compelling
children into detoxification programs is unfair and an unreasonable
breech of their privacy rights, the undeniable success of the program
has proved its worth.

As the first province in Canada to enact legislation that compels
young people to at least consider changing their ways, Alberta has
taken an important new direction that other provinces should consider
following.

With the success of the new youth program, could it perhaps be time
to consider a similar non-criminal program for adults?

As the very busy court system proves, there is no shortage of adult
offenders who, because of alcohol or drug addition, continue to
offend year in and year out. For example, there are many offenders in
central Alberta who chronically drive while impaired, and despite
being caught and fined or even jailed, they continue to offend.

Would provincial legislation that allows alcoholic or drug addicted
adults to be taken into custody and compelled to undergo
detoxification over a period of weeks or even months be a benefit to
the community-at-large?

Would Alberta be a safer place if repeat offenders were literally
forced to face up to their underlying addiction problems? Naturally
some people would come out strongly against any plans to transfer the
lessons learned with the youth program to adult situations.

Yet as the new legislation has shown over the past year, positive
changes are possible.