Drug and alcohol addiction and abuse. Recognition. Prevention. Treatment
20/20 Parenting. Recognizing and mitigating early vulnerabilities and risk factors.
Letters to Kerry
Stories of Victory, Struggle, Tragedy, & Workplace Concerns
August 10, 2005:
I am grateful for this next very insightful letter written by Sergeant Murray Mashford. Not only he has managed to capture very well the breadth of the destruction caused by crystal meth as well as the barriers to helping those who are caught by its highly addictive nature, he has shared some very interesting responses to this health condition by two other countries. - K
After reading the article the Province did concerning Methamphetamine use and the article concerning your son, I was in complete agreement with your view that there should be legal recourse for a parent to force their child into rehab. I'm a Sergeant with the Saanich Police Department and part of the duties I perform on a daily basis are concerned with dealing with crimes committed by meth addicts.
In almost nineteen years as an officer for the Department I have seen a lot of drug dependant people. Many of the drug addicts that were teenagers when they became addicts are now in their thirties, so in effect, we've grown up together. Nothing I've dealt with in my service has been more destructive and pervasive than Crystal Meth.
Methamphetamines have cut a wide swath through all age groups and all social backgrounds and have destroyed more families than any of the other drugs that are currently out there. I empathize with your situation concerning your son and the helplessness that you obviously felt. To see a loved one that is on a path of self-destruction and to not have the ability to stop it must have been extremely difficult for you to cope with.
I have traveled extensively to S.E. Asia, in particular Vietnam, where I have been going for the past 10 years. As a Communist country that is only now beginning to emerge from years of repression, and is known for it's harsh treatment of criminals, I was quite surprised to learn how Vietnam deals with its addicts. Vietnam will remove the addict from society for a period of two years. During those two years the addict will be "cleaned" of the substances that they have become addicted to.
Also during those two years they will be taught a trade so that when they leave the rehabilitation facility they will have something to offer the work force. Family structure in Vietnam is such that, the person leaving the facility is not left to their own devices. Their family is there to support them and ease them back into society. They are given a second lease on life by the Government, through the rehabilitation that is forced upon them. If they choose to get back into the drug culture after being given this opportunity then the recourse is jail or forced labor camps.
While on the subject of how other Countries deal with their drug problems, I viewed a documentary recently about Thailand and their penal system. Part of the documentary focused on a Buddhist Monk that was assigned a prison for those inmates wishing spiritual counseling. The monk stated that he'd been with the same prison for 18 years and during that time had been witness to many executions, many of them as a result of Drug Trafficking.
The filmmaker asked the monk what he thought of the death penalty for people convicted of Trafficking. Knowing a little about Buddhism and the value placed on all life, I was a little shocked to hear his reply. The monk stated that he agreed that the death penalty was a fitting sentence for the Trafficker due to the fact that a murderer is given the death penalty and it is typically for killing only one person.
The Trafficker [however] is responsible for the deaths of scores of people, as well as the deaths of families who suffer as a result of having an addicted son or daughter. The monk reasoned that the family structure was killed due to the loss of face within the community, the loss of future generations due to marital breakdown, the loss of love and trust as the addict will typically rob and steal from other family members and friends of the family.
For every person that the Trafficker gets hooked there are scores more that are left to pick up the broken pieces. After watching this documentary I instantly saw the parallels with Canada and the families that I've personally dealt with that have a son or daughter addicted to drugs. I think that you are right in wanting our Government to make changes to the Criminal Code and Charter of Rights that would allow parents, or in their absence, duly appointed officials, to force people into rehabilitation.
There is currently nothing available in the way of recourse, for parents of teenagers who are drug addicted. The Charter of Rights and Freedoms has handcuffed parents and police from forcing intervention even if it is something that will be of benefit to the recipient, or possibly save their life.
To treat the addict is but one piece of the puzzle. The other pieces that need to fall into place are the Court system and the current thought process that many of our Judges take when sentencing Drug Traffickers and Manufacturers. Presently, our Courts are very reluctant to sentence traffickers to any jail. The Courts have taken the position that jail should be reserved for violent offenders.
Because of this, drug traffickers know that the risk of imprisonment is very small. What has resulted is an influx of people trafficking drugs and this is evidenced in the availability of pretty much anything a person wants. You don't have to look very far or very hard for someone to supply you with heroin, cocaine, meth, ecstasy, etc.
I wish that our Court system would take a stronger position against the drug trafficker. Perhaps that would make them think twice about choosing that as a career. Our Court decisions need to reflect what is happening in our society and further, need to reflect the majority of Canadians' disdain for drug traffickers. The destruction that the trafficker wreaks upon our society by peddling their illicit drugs should be reflected in harsh prison sentences.
I commend you for your courage to have your story written Kerry. It is only when people in your situation, and the rest that bear witness to it, stand up and voice themselves, that our Government will change its policies. There comes a time when people need to have their rights taken from them in order for them to avoid self-destruction. I hope that this letter in some way encourages you to keep fighting for what is right and what will make our society a better one. Unfortunately your son won't wake up one morning with clear eyes to realize what he is doing to himself and his family. Hopefully, what you are attempting to do and the changes that you are trying to make to our system will enable someone else's son or daughter to make the right decision.
Sincerely,
Murray R. Mashford
**The opinions expressed in this letter are those of the writer and are not necessarily those of the Saanich Police Department or the Municipality of Saanich. Murray R. Mashford is a 19-year member of the Saanich Police Department and has worked in a number of Divisions while with the Department including Street Crime Unit, Youth Investigator, Organized Crime Agency of B.C. (Now known as the Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit). At present Murray is a Sergeant on a Uniformed Patrol platoon.
I would like to add that my son did realize what he was doing to me and to our family and this was very hard for him. He tried numerous times to get well. In the end, I believe, he felt the only way he could stop the pain he was causing to himself and to us was by ending his life, in spite of the pain his suicide would cause.
Sadly, as human beings we all have our breaking point and when the support and treatment is not there for us, regardless of the nature of our struggle, we can be brought down to this decision. For this reason our focus at 2020 Parenting is on early prevention and early remediation, in part because our society is already focused on later prevention and intervention, and in part because of the lack of effective treatment in Canada for crystal meth addiction. - K
