October 8, 2025 by Meagan Gillmore

A new private member’s bill aims to make it easier for youth to receive addiction treatment as part of sentencing for drug-related offences. 

The goal is “to help teenagers struggling with substance abuse so that they are helped rather than punished by the justice system,” said Quebec Conservative MP Luc Berthold when he introduced the bill on Sept. 19. 

Berthold introduced the Friends of David Act in honour of his son David, who died by suicide in February at age 28. David had struggled with addiction that began by using marijuana as a teenager.

“He had a heart as big as the sky,” Berthold said in a Sept. 15 tribute for his son in the House of Commons.

David never faced drug charges as a youth, only as an adult. But Berthold says that if his son had gotten help as a teenager, it could have saved his life. 

“[I] want to offer [youth] that possibility that the justice system can be there for them if they want,” Berthold said in an interview with Canadian Affairs. 

Berthold’s bill would change the Youth Criminal Justice Act to permit judges to delay sentencing youth convicted of drug-related charges if they voluntarily attend addiction treatment. 

Judges would not be permitted to impose harsher sentences for youth who do not go to treatment, Berthold says. But judges would have the discretion to reduce a youth’s sentence. 

Criminal justice lawyers say the bill is well-intended, but note that judges can already do what the bill describes. The bigger problem, they say, is a lack of youth addiction treatment programs. 

“It’s often the shortages of treatment options available to young persons that limit how young persons can deal with their charges,” said Kathleen Reyes, a Calgary-based lawyer who specializes in youth criminal defence. 

Positive intervention

The youth criminal justice system prioritizes rehabilitation more than adult criminal courts. Rehabilitation is listed as one of the key focuses of the Youth Criminal Justice Act, as well as referring youth to programs that can help address behaviours that led to their charges. 

Judges have “great discretion” in sentencing youth, said Reyes. This means they can refer them to drug addiction treatment, even if treatment is not mentioned explicitly in the law.

“Including treatment as an option [for youth offenders] is nothing new,” she said.

If youth do not get that treatment, it is usually because “there’s no bed to meet that need,” she said.

Wendy Martin White, a criminal defence lawyer in Winnipeg, says she has had youth clients who went to treatment and, as a result, had their criminal charges stayed. 

But she has also seen funding for youth treatment centres cut and the challenges those cuts bring.

“If we can get at the root causes of some of the criminal behaviour that takes place early and prevent future criminal activity from taking place when these youth reach the age of majority … it’s better for everybody,” she said.

“If we don’t get at those root causes, what we often end up seeing is youth coming back again and again and often as adults.”

Anyone can struggle with addiction, but youth with histories of abuse, poverty or family instability are at greater risk, says Kora DeBeck, a professor of substance use and drug policy at Simon Fraser University who studies youth who use drugs and live on the streets. 

Berthold’s bill has well-intentioned public health goals, she says. “The last place we want [youth] to be interacting with is the criminal justice system. We would much more want them to be interacting with social [and] health supports that nurture them, that provide connection and safety.” 

Youth who use drugs are often vulnerable to being used by adults, often for cheap labour or sex, says Reyes. 

“Getting treatment means that those young persons get pulled out of the cycle, can hopefully find new points of stability, get back into a stable place,” she said.

But the system can be difficult for people to navigate, she says.

For her part, DeBeck questions the effectiveness of drug criminalization to stop drug use. 

There are “more positive interventions [to address drug addiction] than shame and criminalization,” she said. 

‘Important to name’

Berthold says he knows that addiction treatment is often already part of sentences for youth crimes. But addiction treatment is currently not mentioned specifically in the law; he hopes doing so will encourage provinces to increase funding for drug addiction treatment. 

“If we are mentioning it specifically in the bill, in the laws, that will help us to do some pushing on having more resources for those drug addiction centres,” he said. 

“It’s important to name [drug addiction treatment].”  

He plans to meet with health authorities and social workers in every province to discuss increasing treatment. 

Berthold also said his bill does not contradict his party’s traditional stance of being tough on crime.

“I’m still thinking that the young person who will commit crime needs to face justice,” he said. 

But often youth commit crimes to pay for their drug addictions. Giving them treatment will hopefully reduce future crimes, he says. 

Private member’s bills rarely become laws. It is unknown when Berthold’s bill will advance to second reading. Bills that pass second reading are sent to committees for further study.

For Berthold, the bill is the fulfillment of one of his late son David’s life goals. 

Before David died, he and his father discussed finding ways to help youth struggling with addiction, Berthold says. 

“We will achieve something in the name of David,” he said.

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