Mother Gets Cage for Ice-Addicted Son

While parents may ground their troublesome kids, or take away their pocket money, most won’t seriously consider locking them up in a metal cage.

But one Queensland woman planned to do just that, installing a $3,000 metal cage in her home, complete with metal bars over the windows.

The cage was intended to keep her son inside the home. But her reasoning goes far beyond a typical teen temper-tantrum. She has helplessly watched her son deteriorate from ice addiction, and is terrified that he will end up injured, dead or will harm someone else.

After sitting by and watching the drug consume her 17-year-old son’s life for years, the desperate mother felt like she was running out of options, “begging for help and there is no one to help us.”

Police have warned that the mother will be committing a crime if she locks her son inside the cage.

But while her solution is unconventional, this Rockhampton mother is not alone in her struggle: drug addictions can affect anyone, including the children of high-profile politicians like Jacqui Lambie and countless other parents across Australia.

While most sensible people would advise against locking kids in cages, the mother’s conduct raises questions about the extent to which parents, and society as a whole, should be allowed to go in order to “protect” children.

Is Forcible Intervention Ever Allowed?

When a person is struggling with addiction, their ability to make rational decisions can be dramatically altered. For that reason, courts can impose mandatory drug treatment programs upon certain offenders who are in the grips of an addiction.

For example, section 5A of the Crimes (Sentencing Procedure) Act 1999 allows the NSW Drug Court to order that eligible defendants may serve part of their prison sentence by way of compulsory drug treatment detention. This, however, can only be done after the person has pleaded guilty to an offence.

But in Victoria, section 10 of the Severe Substance Dependence Treatment Act 2010 allows anyone over the age of 18 to apply to court for a detention and treatment order for another person. The applicant must, however, attach a current recommendation for detention and treatment by a prescribed registered medical practitioner.

If the application is granted, a warrant can be issued to enter the subject’s home, restrain them and take them to a medical practitioner.

This law has been criticised on the basis that forcible treatment is not an appropriate way to treat people who suffer from drug or alcohol dependence, and is rarely successful.

And many have wondered about the practicalities of the approach. With rehabilitation centres across Australia filled to capacity, how can a system make space for all voluntary patients, let alone those who are forced to attend?

While no similar laws are proposed in NSW, the idea of mandatory detention is gaining currency elsewhere.

In May this year, Tasmania Rural Health Chief, Rob Waterman, suggested that drug addicted children should be forced into rehabilitation against their will, saying that the time has come to legislate for non-consensual treatment of people struggling with drug addiction, whose health and wellbeing is at risk.

What are your thoughts?