I just read the comments by the readers of The Province, in their series OPERATION PHOENIX sponsored by The Province, CKNW 980, and Global B.C. The installment in the series today is in response to a column written by Ethan Baron on Wednesday June 3, 2009. 80% of the respondents agree that addicts from the downtown east side should be locked up and get some kind of care until they are no longer addicts.
I hate to cloud the issue with the facts, but according to the British Columbia Ministry of Health, Guide to the Mental Health Act, April 4, 2005
Section 28: an involuntary commitment can occur when an individual is apparently suffering from a mental disorder and is acting in a manner likely to endanger their own safety or that of another.
“The Guide” goes on to say… “the term safety here is not restricted to the potential of physical violence to self or others. For example it also covers situations where the person’s safety is endangered because of exposure to extremely cold weather conditions or gross self neglect.”
The V.P.D. can’t commit people, only a doctor can and sometimes it takes two doctors or a judge. That’s what “the Act” says. Don’t take my word for it, look it up yourself.
Just between you and me, if you saw someone laying in an alley covered in scabs with a needle stuck in their arm, would you call that an act of self harm or gross self neglect?
Would you care in the moment if they were there by choice or by mental illness. Would common sense say, maybe this person needs to go to the hospital for more than a couple of hours, and I’m not talking about just the waiting time.
When I worked at Riverview Hospital coincidentally in 2005, I was told no new patients were being admitted. And the patients in care were being discharged on a daily basis “to other facilities”
We both know where they went.
Section 28: “
