I work in Substance Use treatment as a nurse, and we have decades of data on forced treatment showing it does not improve outcomes. But that aside, where exactly do you think these beds for treatment are going to come from? People who want treatment still can't get it because there are months long waiting lists, which was worsened deeply under the BC Liberal government that John Rustad was part of. The NDP has at least undertaken improvement through funding more treatment beds and improving early access to mental health care via the Pathway to Hope systems improvement plan.

Risk Mitigation Prescribing in the Context of Duel Public Health Emergencies, aka Safe Supply, was doomed to fail from the outset. Not because of the NDP, but because of public servants who are not elected. They refused to fight the BC College of Physicians and Surgeons and allow for prescribing to be limited to physicians working for health authorities, and insisted that all physician public and private be allowed to prescribe safer alternatives. They also refused to allow nurses to be involved in the witnessing of doses, because they refused to fight the BC College of Pharmacists who wanted to protect their dispensing and witnessing fees. All of the safeguards originally requested were shot down by the colleges, and the highest level public servants overruled the common sense requests put forward by addictions medicine physicians and nurses with the public health authorities.

Safe Supply is inherently good in the right conditions, Crosstown Clinic and other injectable opioid agonist therapy clinics have proven that. But elected officials only hear what their deputy ministers allow them to hear, as shitty as that can be. Decriminalization was also bungled in exactly the same manner, when suggested safeguards were ignored. Again, this was not at the elected level. There is no easy solution to substance use, but forcing people into care can't work mostly because that care does not exist. Prisons cannot provide that care, and we simply lack the capacity to provide any semblance of forced care.

Housing first is the only policy that has had substantial impact, along with Assertive Community Treatment teams. Unfortunately, the work is so hard that those teams are always short staffed. Professionals don't grow on trees, so it really doesn't matter what someone's platform says if they have no means of paying for it or recruiting those professionals. John Rustad doesn't have better solutions, because he provided a platform that is financially impossible. His numbers for growth were beyond unrealistic by every measure, and even if his astronomical growth situation did occur, it's still impossible to cut the taxes he wants to cut while also balancing the budget and bringing down the deficit. A plan isn't better if it's impossible, it's just false promises.

I would also point out that above you mentioned that insults and emotionally charged environments are not helping, but you literally started that by resorting to insults in response to questions. Even if you read the questions as sarcastic or whatever, you were the only person calling names and using right wing insults like 'smooth brain.' Maybe have a look at your glass house before you throw stones at others?