Editor’s Note: Michelle’s name has been changed to protect her identity and her family. No other details have been altered.
LAKELAND – Michelle was just 15 years old when she tried methamphetamine for the first time, now she is 21 and has not been able to kick the habit.
Young and living away from home with her boyfriend and his family, crystal meth went from being a dangerous substance her mother warned her about to a recreational drug that many of her peers had started to experiment with.
“It was tempting, everyone else around me was doing it – I wanted to try it,” she recalled.
Getting a hold of the illicit substance wasn’t difficult to do at the time. Both her boyfriend's family and friends had access to it or were using it.
At 19, around the time she was about to become a mother, Michelle realized her use of methamphetamine had grown into an addiction. And while she was able to remain sober during her pregnancies, she could not avoid her addiction indefinitely.
Michelle, who now lives in Bonnyville with her boyfriend and two children, gets support from a caseworker assigned to their family every week.
Living in town has helped Michelle reduce some of her cravings and the temptation of using methamphetamine. “If I was in Cold Lake, I would crave it because I know I could get it... here, I don’t do anything and don’t know anybody, and neither does [my boyfriend].”
The desire to get high and the easy accessibility to drugs if you can get the funds to secure it, is one factor why some meth users regularly commit crimes.
“Doing drugs you lose a lot – things and family too and friends. I think that’s why people stop caring and do what they do to survive and to get their next fix,” acknowledged Michelle.
Exhausting the judicial system
“Drug use is really exhausting the judicial system,” Nicole Evans, an interim executive director for the Bonnyville Indian-Métis Rehabilitation Centre, told Lakeland This Week.
In 2021, Alberta RCMP processed 1,831 methamphetamine related offences.
“What I wish people would understand is that incarceration isn't rehabilitation,” said Evans. “Until we understand the difference of those terms, and we're comfortable having them being different... then they are going to remain separate, and that gap is going to stay there.”
Evans says that people who commit crimes under the influence need rehabilitation more than they need punishment.
“We need to figure out why someone even thought that was an option.”
If the province wants to curb drug related crimes and offenses, attention must be paid to root causes and addressing issues as they are presented – not expecting individuals to rehabilitate themselves.
“This goes back to lack of funding and short staffing. Not every incarcerated individual necessarily has a worker inside or somebody that can direct them to programs and services,” stated Evans.
Incarceration and rehabilitation
Once drug users enter the legal system, the likelihood of curbing addiction and rehabilitating a person can be an even greater battle.
“First and foremost, incarceration isn't safe. It isn't supportive, it's not compassionate, it doesn't recognize individuals as having gone through trauma,” said Evans. “Do we want career criminals, or do we want people who can leave an institution and become able to re-enter the workforce and re-enter society?”
In 2005, the Provincial Court of Alberta started a Drug Treatment Court (DTC). The program is intended to break the cycle of criminal behaviour driven by drug addiction, by offering those admitted a chance to avoid prison and complete a drug treatment program where non-violent offences have been committed.
The purpose is to reduce the number of crimes committed through judicial supervision, drug abuse treatment, frequent drug testing, sanctions and social services support.
Roughly 80 per cent of participants will graduate from DTC. Of those, it is estimated that 70 per cent will not reoffend, according to Alberta Courts.
Treatment takes time
In the fall of 2022, Michelle entered a detox recovery centre and a rehab facility for the first time after months of waiting to be accepted into a program. She completed seven days in detox but left rehab after just one day.
“It was really strict there, I didn’t like it and I felt really uncomfortable,” she said. “I wasn't ready for it I guess you could say.”
Michelle also recalled the challenges of being in treatment and wondering if her partner was sticking to his word of staying sober at home. But more than that, the urge to use drugs grew even stronger when she tried to get clean.
For now, Michelle remains unsure if she will ever go back to treatment. She does not know if she wants to give up using methamphetamine entirely and believes it may be possible to find a balance between using meth and having a relatively normal life.
However, she acknowledged the hardships of trying to parent while being an active meth-user.
“You are only thinking about yourself when you're on it. You don’t think about anything else and that’s why you lose a lot when you’re on it.”
Looking to the future, Michelle said she wishes her family would accept her drug use.
“I want my family to invite me over for visits and stuff because we don’t do that anymore and we are not allowed to go see them,” she said. “I'm not doing anything to hurt them. It has nothing to do with them."
Harm reduction
While most people complete the full 28-days of treatment, many do not, and even fewer can achieve sobriety after their first time in rehab.
“There are lots of reasons why someone doesn't finish treatment, oftentimes, and the reason that you'll hear quite frequently in addictions is that they weren't ready,” Evans explained.
For that reason, many rehabilitation centres have started embracing the notion of harm reduction and meeting people where they are at.
“It's such a big jump from active using to abstinence. If we can put something in the middle... that is where we see that real impactful long-term change happening,” she said. “It allows people to reach that point on their own where they realize ‘This isn't working for me. I do want to change’.”
For individuals in the midst of substance use, addiction often becomes self-diagnosed.
"It's the way you feel about using and how difficult you define it to be,” she said. “When they have other people telling them that their addiction is ruining their life, they will never hear it until they accept it for themselves.”
For anyone who has tried treatment but struggles to maintain sobriety, there is no limit on the times they can seek help.
“Don't worry about coming back to treatment multiple times,” said Evans. “We don't care if you come back 100 times. If it is 101st time that you get it, then good.”
RELATED STORY:
