| A Calgary defence lawyer says the city needs a drug court, like those that currently exist in Vancouver and Toronto, so that the justice system isn’t just a revolving door for drug addicts.
Mark Tyndale says many of his clients are drug addicts who become serial criminals to pay for their habit. Repeated jail time does nothing to rehabilitate them, whereas a drug court might finally help them get clean, he says.
Tyndale is chair of an ad hoc committee which has been looking at setting up a drug court in Calgary. The committee is hoping to make a formal proposal to the province and the City of Calgary at the end of February.
"A huge number of offences are drug driven," says Tyndale. "If we keep jailing people we’re just warehousing them… if we don’t give them a viable alternative they’ll return to crime."
Tyndale says most of his clients who have drug problems are addicted to crack cocaine but he also deals with heroin addicts and an increasing number of clients who are hooked on crystal meth.
Tyndale says addicts aren’t rehabilitated in jail because drugs are readily available there and the provincial government "has virtually ended" all drug treatment programs within jails.
When addicts get out of jail, they aren’t very closely supervised by probation officers because probation officer are overwhelmed by huge caseloads, says Tyndale.
"What we know in Alberta is jailing people with drug problems doesn’t solve anything," says Tyndale. "The jail becomes the sieve at the bottom of society for everyone who falls through the cracks."
Drug courts, on the other hand, are proven to reduce crime and help people get clean, says Tyndale.
There are currently over 1,000 drug courts operating in the U.S.. Canada has two drug courts in Vancouver and Toronto.
Under the proposed plan put together by Calgary’s ad hoc committee, drug addicts who commit non-violent crimes could plead guilty and be diverted into a drug court. They would then go into a several month addiction treatment program run by the Salvation Army. To stay in the program they’d have to appear in court twice a week and submit to random urine samples, says Tyndale.
Not completing the program would result in jail time for the addict.Successful completion would mean a more lenient sentence.
Although the drug court is still only in the planning stages, Justice Canada is in full support of it, says Tyndale. However, he’s critical of the fact that Alberta’s justice ministry still hasn’t decided whether or not to support the Calgary drug court.
."Our provincial government seems to think if you do anything other than jail (criminals) or flog them you’re soft on crime," says Tyndale.
Alberta Justice could not be reached for comment before press time. |
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