Coerced Treatment

Date: 4:00 pm | Sunday 9 October 2011

Venue: Hetzel Theatre

Should we allow the courts to legally coerce addicted persons to undergo treatments that involve the implantation of long-acting drugs or the use of vaccines to block the effects of addictive drugs? Australian courts routinely offer addiction treatment to addicted offenders as an alternative to imprisonment when they have been convicted of an offence to which theirdrug dependence has contributed e.g. drug dealing or property offences that were committed to fund their drug use. Wayne Hall will discuss the ethical issues that are raised by different degrees of legal coercion – compulsory treatment vs a choice of treatment or imprisonment and a choice of treatment type – and providing different types of treatment such as drug free and drug-assisted treatments.