A former BC drug user turned harm reduction and recovery advocate and an Alberta Addiction Doctors are proposing that governments pay for the treatment of some people.
Guy Feliciella and Dr Monty Ghosh said the idea of ”incentive treatment” would see people who can’t access treatment through other means, including the homeless and those living below the poverty line – they’d make $20 a day to enter the 90s will be eligible for a small stipend of Rs. Day treatment facilities and rehabilitation services.
The $600 a month would go into people’s pockets and not for food or housing costs, giving them something to work towards when they leave treatment and attempt recovery.
“It’s really like investing in people,” Felicella told Global News in an interview.
“We have to get better at investing in people to make recovery something more attractive for people to try.”
“We’re trying to challenge the notion that we need to force people into treatment services,” Ghosh said, adding that the incentive process for substance use is already tried and tested.
Contingency management, Ghosh said, is a rewards-based system with incentives for people to enroll in certain treatment programs that has been very effective for drugs such as methamphetamine, cannabis and alcohol.
“The reward system in the brain is a big thing that drives substance use,” Ghosh said.
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Having spent two decades battling homelessness and heroin addiction in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside, Felicella is well aware of how powerful stimulant drugs are.
He once took fentanyl off the streets six times before he was cured through the safety net of harm reduction, compassion and Suboxone, an opioid replacement treatment, he said.
The drugs need to be countered with another catalyst, and Feliciella and Ghosh said monetary incentives work, citing $5 cash for dozens of Downtown Eastside residents to get their COVID-19 vaccines in 2021. Persuaded.
“It’s a way of giving back to people a little bit of confidence and a little bit of recognition that they too are part of something bigger,” Felicella said.
“If we’re not addressing other social determinants of health, treatment is often not set up for success for the many people who start with absolutely nothing.”
According to a July 2020 report by the Canadian Center on Substance Use and Addiction (CCSA) and the University of Victoria’s Canadian Institute for Substance Use Research (CCSA), substance use costs Canadian society approximately $46 billion per year – or in Canada That’s about $1,258 for each person. Caesar). The pair believe the government cannot afford not to give the incentive treatment a trial.
“We believe the incentive will be cheaper than the total cumulative cost of substance use on Canada,” Ghosh told Global News.
“This includes correction costs, justice costs, social service costs, and health care costs.”
When asked if this is something the BC government has researched and/or will consider implementing in the future, the Ministry of Mental Health and Addiction told Global News in a statement: “Since 2017, the government’s The priority has been to build a mental health system. and substance use care that can provide treatment for people when they make the courageous decision to seek help. This includes creating more opportunities for people to access the voluntary system of care.
“There is no one-size-fits-all response to people who struggle with drug use. As the province continues to expand and develop its response to the public health emergency, options are needed to ensure A wide range is considered to ensure people get the care that works for them. The government is always open to exploring new options that will prevent deaths and end the toxic drug crisis.
“As the province implements new approaches to addiction support and harm reduction – some of the first in Canada – it is building evidence to advance the response to the toxic drug crisis that affects those most vulnerable. Good helps those who need it, when and where they need it.
BC Premier David Abbey was not available for an interview.
Julian Sommers, a clinical psychologist and SFU health sciences professor, echoes the idea, but says that encouragement itself is only part of what’s needed — and the role of motivation isn’t the biggest part we need to fix. Is.
“More important for many people is simply having access to the resources they will need over time to overcome their addictions,” Somers told Global News.
Somers, who specializes in mental health and addiction research, said a treatment stipend likely would not help vulnerable individuals who do not have housing support and work opportunities to build a new life.
Reuniting with their families and children is also an important long-term goal for many Indigenous people with ties to communities around B.C., according to Somers.
Somers questioned, “Unless we do other things at the same time to make it possible, how far will $20 go in raising that trip.”
Former construction worker Jory Rebin has been living across the street from the West Hotel on Carroll Street since December 1, when he said he was evicted from possession of a room after 18 years as a tenant.
On Thursday, he overdosed while alone after smoking cocaine, which may have been linked to fentanyl.
Rebin was resuscitated by paramedics and Vancouver firefighters – including a Global News camera operator – administered naloxone when they found him unconscious in his tent.
Thankfully he survived the close call, Ribin believes $20 a day would be a great incentive to get people into treatment.
“It would give them an incentive to make a decision other than one based on survival,” Rybin told Global News in an interview on Friday.
“On the road, you have very few options for making money—besides the hustle.”
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