Opinion: Why involuntary treatment for addiction is a dangerous idea
Involuntary treatment might be worth it if it worked — but evidence strongly suggests that it doesn’t.
As the overdose crisis rages on and the pandemic-fatigued public runs low on empathy, there have been increasing calls for expanded involuntary commitment for people with substance use disorder. Some of the advocacy for more coercive treatment seems rooted in a disdain for people who use drugs, most especially when their drug use occurs visibly and in close geographic proximity to affluence, for example in San Francisco or in the Massachusetts Avenue and Melnea Cass area of Boston which borders the wealthy South End neighborhood.
However, many others’ support for involuntary treatment is rooted in compassion, love, and sheer desperation. In these instances, the supporters are often parents, loved ones, or beleaguered clinicians who care deeply for the well-being of individuals who use drugs and grasp at the idea of civil commitment as a necessary evil to save a life. A powerful description of this perspective, and the love behind it, was recently written by a father and published in the New York Times.
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