Having long struggled with drug addiction, Jacob Peddle has successfully completed a court training program in drug treatment.
At a young age, he began to consume, then participated in drug trafficking. Jacob Peddle could be jailed after being caught in possession of drugs, but he chose to attend training at Lethbridge Drug Treatment Court rather than serve a two-year prison sentence.
By the end of this Wednesday, he also became the first person to complete this program, which aims to offer a new way of successful social reintegration for people accused of offenses committed without violence.
Lethbridge Court was one of five sites, outside of Calgary and Edmonton, selected to implement this program in Alberta.
From the dark
Jacob Peddle testified that he was 12 years old when he started dating badly, mostly people older than him. At age 16, he started smoking methamphetamine and served as a middleman for the drug trade.
In April 2020, during a traffic stop in his hometown of Claresholm, located just under 100 km northwest of Lethbridge, he was arrested by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP). Jacob Peddle was 18 years old and charged with possession of methamphetamine and cocaine for the purpose of trafficking.
When he appeared in court, he was offered a choice: two years in prison or training in a drug treatment court. “If I went to jail, I knew very well that I would have fallen again,” he explains.
The light at the end of the tunnel
Jacob Peddle said opting for treatment meant he promised to redeem himself.
” [Le programme demande] a lot of work, it’s not a simple escape from prison. If people want to participate, they must be fully committed to living a life of recovery. “
He explained in this regard that he had undergone 36 conditions during his sixteen months of training. This includes clearer rules such as not using alcohol or drugs, not owning a cell phone, or driving a vehicle you do not own.
A few months later Jacob Peddle became sober when he started the program, driven in this way by Bailey, who became his girlfriend. The couple is expecting their first child in November.
“Help with rehabilitation instead of punishing”
Attorney for Legal Aid Alberta (LAA), Alberta’s legal aid program, Brett Carson said the establishment of drug treatment courts is beneficial.
“We can’t imagine how many offenses [supplémentaires] allegedly committed by a 21-year-old who had just been jailed for two years, and not yet [encore] resolved his addiction issues, ”he said.
According to Brett Carson, a drug treatment court is more effective than a jail because it aims to rehabilitate a person rather than punish.
” If society could solve addiction through incarceration, it would have done so decades, centuries ago. “
Now that the program is demonstrating its effectiveness, the province will benefit from providing more addiction treatment options, he suggests.
“The more centers there are, the more big changes there will be,” Brett Carlson believes.
The Alberta government announced last March an investment of $ 20 million over four years to support the drug treatment program.
With information from Jo Horwood
Radio Canada
Source: Radio-Canada
