Leading up to the recent provincial elections, both the BC NDP Party and the BC Conservative Party announced that they will expand "involuntary care" in a manner that will especially target precariously housed/unhoused people suffering from substance use disorders. This type of policy is designed to appeal to a public who are concerned about fellow British Columbians who are suffering, but which - if implemented - would lead to more suffering and death.

The research evidence is clear: involuntary treatment for people suffering from substance use disorders does not work. Forced residential "treatment" does not produce a sustained remission in substance use and, because it reduces tolerance in those it targets, dramatically increases the risk of overdose death following discharge. Further studies demonstrate that this type of medical incarceration disproportionately targets the most vulnerable among us, such as unhoused racialized individuals. 

By compelling treatment under the guise of care, we strip individuals of their autonomy and medically detain them, criminalizing their struggles rather than offering genuine support. This not only damages trust between patients and healthcare providers but also shifts the role of hospitals from care centers to punitive institutions.  It also shifts focus away from the interventions that we know do work, such as voluntary opioid agonist therapy, trauma counselling, and secure, permanent housing.

As healthcare workers, we have an incredible power we can bring to bear on this disheartening proposal: the power to say NO.  

We are calling on physicians and nurse practitioners in BC to unite with our campaign to refuse to certify patients under the BC Mental Health Act (BC MHA) for substance use disorders. We are also calling on healthcare workers more generally such as social workers, hospital staff, and personal support workers, who refuse the carceral ideology that involuntary treatment for unhoused, racialized, and disabled people who use drugs (PWUD) is a form of care. Your name will be listed publicly below if you choose to sign onto this campaign.

Read the statement endorsed by local organizations in condemning these proposals here: https://www.policeoversight.ca/p/16-organizations-condemn-forced-detention 

Read more about involuntary treatment as a form of carceral eugenics here: https://springmag.ca/involuntary-treatment-is-not-care-bc-is-spearheading-its-violent-rise

Read the refusal campaign statement from Doctors for Safer Drug Policy and Harm Reduction Nurses Association: https://www.policeoversight.ca/p/harm-reduction-nurses-association

This campaign is organized by Canadian Students for Sensible Drug Policy, Care Not Cops and Northern Health Solidarity.