Message Boards
Replies to 'Addiction Support'
|
August 3, 2005, 4:43 pm PDT
 Quote From: the_indian Hi! I'm sorry you all are going through this.
I don't know anything about the laws in Canada. Just for grins, I plugged "Canada" and drug treatment options into google and I got over 3 million links! Are you sure your sister has thoroughly researched the possibilities? I'm sure this isn't the case, but it almost sounds like she's waiting for Dr. Phil to step in and help, which isn't much of a plan.
Here in the US, if I was in your sister's situation, I would try another mental health professional asap. The purpose of this wouldn't be to talk him into rehab - it would be to asses his mental status to see if he's even capable of making decisions for himself. If the first shrink he saw failed to grasp the situation, I'd simply find a new one. If it appears that he's not mentally competent, there are legal steps (again, I'm talking in the US) that a relative can take on that person's behalf to position themselves so that they can get him properly evaluated on an inpatient basis.
If, on the other hand, he's a legal adult who is oriented and alert, but simply refuses to give up drugs and refuses to go to rehab, unfortunately there's very little that can be done. That is also true in the US since, as you say, rehab facilities allow patients to come and go as they please.
Other than that, I don't know what to say, but I find it hard to believe, if he's really that messed up, that your sister doesn't have options and legal protections she can tap into. Has she thought of consulting an attorney? At this point, from what you've said, his mental competence sounds like a more urgent issue than anything else. I understand you must find it hard to believe, so do I! And my sister isn't waiting for Dr. Phil to get involved but, to me, this could be her last resort. She has sought legal advice and the only thing she was able to legally obtain was a paper to have him assessed IF and WHEN he is a danger to himself and she did use this legal paper just over a week ago. However, the two physcologists who assessed him couldn't do anything, they couldn't keep him because he was somewhat "alert" being he knew his name, where he was, etc. The laws are different there even compared to the province I live in which is just 4 hours away from her... See here where I live if 2 people hear someone say they will kill themself and do harm to themself, then you can have them admitted and treated but, it's different over there, you just can't do that. If there is a time where one can say that the law has let someone down, this is it! I've seen it now since he's been 12 years of age and it really upsets me! And yes, this is an urgent issue as my nephew can't continue on like this for very long without something happening to him. He's also gone to rehab twice I believe in the past of his own will of course but, he went back to the same friends, same enviroment and now things are worse than ever. Anyhow, just thought someone may have advice of some sort...I've been trying to come up with something on my own but without success. |
|
Return to the Message Board
