Compulsory Commitment to Care of Substance Misusers – A Worldwide Comparative Analysis of the Legislation~!2009-12-02~!2010-06-14~!2010-07-23~!

Abstract

This study explores the worldwide use of compulsory commitment to care (CCC) at the end of the 20 th century and evaluates the implementation of WHO recommendations since the 1960s. Based on three WHO reports, the legislation of 90 countries and territories are analyzed, and types as well as predictors of such legislation are analyzed in multivariate models from country characteristics. Laws on CCC for alcohol and drug misusers are common all over the world; more than 80 percent of the countries and territories studied have such laws. The majority use civil commitmentacute or rehabilitative -in accordance with welfare logic, while a large minority still uses commitment under criminal law, based on a moral logic. Civil CCC is positively related to strong economies or having been part of the Soviet legal system. CCC under criminal law is negatively related to the same factors.

Welfare, Temperance and Compulsory Commitment to Care for Persons with Substance Misuse Problems: A Comparative Study of 38 European Countries

“…Legislation on CCC in Europe did not differ from the international picture [19] . Of the 30 European countries included, 25 countries (83%) had legislation on compulsory care or compulsory placement in treatment of substance misusers.…”

“…A comparative study [19] , based on three WHO reports [17,18,20] , reported that 82% of 90 countries and territories had active laws on CCC for substance misusers. The sheer existence of laws on CCC was not related to country characteristics, but the type of such laws was.…”

Compulsory Commitment to Care of Substance Misusers: International Trends during 25 Years

“…All reported law on CCC. Israelsson and Gerdner [4] combined these data for 90 countries. Within criminal justice legislation, only those laws mandating through court orders were counted, not laws that concerned diversion to treatment with full consent including possibility to withdraw.…”

“…Within criminal justice legislation, only those laws mandating through court orders were counted, not laws that concerned diversion to treatment with full consent including possibility to withdraw. With these added to compulsory civil commitment, Israelsson and Gerdner [4] concluded that 82% of the 90 countries had some law on CCC at the eve of the 20th century. In a more recent study on 38 European countries, Israelsson [5] found that 74% had some such law.…”

“…In a study on CCC legislation based on the three WHO reports, Israelsson and Gerdner [4] used the available legal texts to distinguish mandated court orders from voluntary treatment as two different forms of diversion to treatment. Only the mandated court orders were seen as compulsory, i.e.…”