12/30/2025
As we close out 2025, we’re releasing a new position statement on addiction treatment.
Individual addiction treatment, especially forced treatment, is too often framed as a cure-all in the face of the unregulated toxic drug crisis. That narrative misrepresents reality: though access to voluntary treatment is necessary, it is ultimately an individual response, when many of the challenges we face are systemic.
Treatment is not a replacement for evidence-based drug policy, safe and affordable housing, or universal health care. And when treatment is inaccessible, poor quality, culturally unresponsive, or coercive, it can do harm.
We’re clear: people who seek support should be able to access voluntary, high-quality, culturally responsive treatment as part of universal health care. But treatment alone cannot solve a structural crisis, and it is disingenuous for policymakers to claim it can.
Our statement outlines what addiction treatment is meant to do, where it currently falls short in Canada, and how we can do better — for people, families, and communities.
Read it, share it, and join us in imagining better responses.
https://drugpolicy.ca/our-work/addiction-treatment-position-statement/
EDIT to slide 2: There is a mistake on this slide. It should read:
"Substance use is shaped by social, economic, legal and cultural conditions.
Yet responses to the unregulated drug crisis often focus almost entirely on addiction treatment--especially residential treatment--as the main solution.
Treatment alone cannot address the policies that drive harm, nor the social conditions that influence substance use. And when treatment is inaccessible, low quality, culturally unresponsive, or coercive, it can fail people and drive harm. More humane and effective responses are possible."
