Forced addictions treatment will cause more harm than good, ethics expert warns N.B.

It's "highly likely" New Brunswick's plan to force some people with severe addiction into involuntary treatment will cause more harm than good, according to an ethics expert.

Timothy Christie, the regional director of ethics services for the Horizon Health Network, says he conducted an ethics analysis of the proposed Compassionate Intervention Act and found "huge problems" related to Charter violations and evidence-based medicine, he said.

He also believes he has identified a better approach — investing more in the social determinants of health; the non-medical factors that influence health outcomes. These are the conditions in which people are born, grow, work, live and age, such as education and employment.

If the Higgs government intends to push ahead with the legislation, Christie contends it should be amended. "We will have to do things to make it as humane and ethical as we possibly can."

This includes having a "rigorous evaluation plan," so if forcing people into treatment against their will does prove to be more harmful than beneficial, clear stopping rules will be established, said Christie, who is also an adjunct professor of bioethics at Dalhousie University and an adjunct professor of philosophy at the University of New Brunswick.

"However, if there's an option to take another path, I would strongly encourage considering the social determinants of health and optimizing that in New Brunswick," he said.

Authorities are not bound to follow Christie's advice. "The only thing I have is power of persuasion," he said.

Addictions and Mental Health Minister Sherry Wilson is expected to introduce the bill in the legislature this month.

Premier Blaine Higgs has described the legislation as necessary to address the homelessness crisis, because shelters are not equipped to help people recover from addiction.

Public Safety Minister Kris Austin has said the legislation will "absolutely, 100 per cent" include a process allowing medical professionals, family members and others to weigh in on whether someone with severe addiction needs to be forced into treatment.

Still, Christie contends it violates the right to liberty and security, guaranteed under Section 7 the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

"Taking people's rights away is a harm," he said. "By being forced into treatment, you're taking my liberty away. And forcing treatment on me is violating my security of the person."

Other critics have argued the bill is unconstitutional because Section 9 of the Charter stipulates everyone has "the right not to be arbitrarily detained or imprisoned."

Higgs said last month he has not ruled out using the Constitution's notwithstanding clause as part of legislation to protect it from a Charter challenge.