Mar 6, 2017 Newsletter

Last year, we presented before the BC Legislature's Select Standing Committee on Health. We spoke about how some British Columbians suffering from substance use issues are being forced to participate in religious recovery programs, such as Alcoholics Anonymous.

We asked the government to ensure people have a choice and that public funding for addictions recovery goes to the growing number of secular and evidence-based programs.

Last week, the Committee released its report and there's a lot to like in it.

Unfortunately, the Committee chose to equate "secular and non-secular" treatment programs. While this differentiation would likely have been ignored had we not spoken up, it still puts inclusive programs based on the best science on equal footing with ones based on hundred year old dogma.

Guaranteeing the right to secular recovery programs is vitally important for people like Byron Wood or "A" who have filed human rights complaints against provincial health regions for forcing them into religious treatment programs.

We hope the government will adopt the Committee's focus on evidence and harm reduction and over time reduce the influence of religion in publicly-funded treatment programs.