There are two things, actually. First, the vast majority of cities and provinces in this country do not have the capacity to handle those who are willing to do treatment voluntarily, to be clear.
Second, I can talk for both the head of Rideauwood and the head of the Dave Smith Centre here in the city of Ottawa, who deal primarily with young people. They will tell you that every now and then gentle persuasion is what makes somebody realize that drug treatment is what might get them out from where they are. As well, a number of drug treatment court systems that work and operate in this country, which I would argue are at least to some level successful, absolutely use gentle persuasion. The alternative is mainstream justice and probably jail, and they will tell you the same thing.
I can also tell you that I visit the regional detention centre here regularly and meet with 20 prisoners at a time, of whom about 16 would tell me they're addicted or could be addicted, I guess. They will tell you the same thing: that if somebody had interacted in their life at the right time with an option of treatment--maybe a gentle persuasion option of treatment--possibly they wouldn't be where they are. So from my perspective--and I'm not a treatment specialist or a psychologist, to be fair to my friend--as a cop and as a parent and as a community member, I can tell you that there are some people out there who need this. We don't have nearly the capacity for those who want it, let alone those we need to persuade to take it.