When the Police Refuse to Enforce the Law.

a group representing police chiefs
across canada is calling for decriminalizing the possession of small amounts of illicit drugs the canadian association of chiefs of police says substance use and addiction are a public health issue and it's recommending a national task force be created to look into drug policy reform the president of the organization vancouver police chief adam palmer says arresting people for simple possession has proven ineffective and doesn't save lives being addicted to a controlled substance is not a crime and should not be treated as such we recommend that canada's enforcement-based approach for possession be replaced with a health care approach that diverts people from the criminal justice system so what ultimately caused you to get sober what was the moment that you made the decision and i don't know like events around it like what's your story with your decision to get sober well really wasn't my decision because i ended up in jail i feel like they arrested me and i was looking at some pretty serious prison time like it and it didn't really matter to me um when i got arrested like i remember calling my mom like begging her to you know get me up and thank god she didn't you know because i had enough time to get physically sober you know enough time to like feel something you know and to be able to like look at what's actually been happening to my life as far as withdrawing off of math i didn't withdraw until i went to jail i always had it so i didn't think i had a problem and i remember when i went to court and the judge was like you're going to prison for three years like it was in that moment like i don't know maybe it was like walking across the courtroom in shackles in front of my mom and seeing her like knowing she did everything for me growing up i was a cheerleader i was on dance team like she gave me every opportunity to be successful in my life and then here i am a hundred pounds and you know going to prison and i was willing to take responsibility even if that meant going to prison for three years so when i went to jail and i actually had to get off of meth i would feed for it i'd be calling bondsmans my first few days i didn't have a bond there was no pond no one could come get me but i wanted to get out so bad to get high i was like literally feeding for it and i had someone that i was selling to come up to me and say jessica you're obviously addicted to math like you need to calm down and i just didn't even i didn't even think about it i was just like i must get out like i have to get out i need it and i remember just like sitting in that cell being so like depressed and i i was feeding like i said i just was anxious i would pace this cell back and forth i couldn't sit still my mind was just obsessing over it like you have to get out you have to get out you have to get out you have to get meth and there was absolutely no way for me to get out eventually that did go away but it probably took a solid like three to five weeks for me to even feel kind of normal you quit math before you quit other substances right like heroin i quit heroin first okay so you quit meth after what caused you to quit um i was arrested i was arrested at 4 30 in the morning on october 20th 2011 and that that was it that was the last time that i used i went to a place called oasis women's recovering community which is like not a non-profit like they don't make profit like i stood out in parking lots for six months selling coupon booklets to carl's jr like to be there like self-supporting so like it was really hard like it wasn't a luxury treatment center where you know i'm getting a massage and acupuncture and thank god i landed there because they told me the truth about myself you know that it was i had to make a choice like do i want to continue being selfish and living this kind of life and take my whole take my daughter's life away from her by not giving her a mother like it was honest you know i also found out when i was arrested that i was pregnant i was about three weeks pregnant and that was a very hard thing for me to wrap my brain around too i knew i was going to prison um for selling drugs i didn't know how to go to prison pregnant so you know that whole journey was really tough for me i served two and a half years my daughter was born while i was in prison and she was the sole reason why i got sober and i've stayed sober ever since and i have almost eight years over now and she's so related [Music] [Music] being addicted to a controlled substance is not a crime and should not be treated as such we recommend that canada's enforcement enforcement-based approach for possession be replaced with a health care approach that diverts people from the criminal justice system i agree if you say that i'm a different person anybody say that money don't change them they just didn't make enough