Alberta’s United Conservative Party (UCP) is considering making a huge change to the province’s involuntary drug treatment laws to clean up the streets and give drug addicts some tough love.
Premier Danielle Smith’s UCP calls the potential legislation the “Compassionate Intervention Act,” as reported by the Globe and Mail.
The legislation would give police, as well as parents or guardians of drug addicts, much greater power to place the users in involuntary treatment centers when considered a risk to themselves or others.
An access-to-information request reveals the UCP started considering the legislation shortly after Smith won the party’s leadership in October 2022.
The documents reveal the potential legislation would allow users to be involuntarily placed in the drug centers after committing non-violent crimes “primarily as a result of a substance use disorder.”
Moreover, family or police would be able to put drug users away when “at risk of serious harm to themselves or others as a result of substance use disorder.”
A spokesman for the Alberta Minister of Mental Health and Addiction said the UCP has “explored a variety of options, including the potential development of a Compassionate Intervention Act.”
He added: “As of this time, no decisions have been made by the Government of Alberta.”
The crime reduction and drug treatment strategy would entail building nine mental-health and addiction recovery centers and communities.
The legislation can’t be considered until after the May 29 provincial election as per election period laws.
Crime in Alberta has spiked of late for a variety of reasons and police have said there are correlations with drug use and the opioid crisis.
Calgary has become a crime-riddled city run by Mayor Jyoti “Defund the Police” Gondek who refuses to take any responsibility for creating a crisis in public safety.
