Poilievre will let judges sentence offenders to mandated treatment for severe addiction cases, require recovery-oriented rehabilitation in prison.

Richmond, BC – Today, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre announced that a new Conservative government will give judges the power to mandate treatment for people struggling with severe addiction. This compassionate change will save lives and help people escape the destructive cycle of addiction. 

“This isn’t about punishment—it’s about saving lives,” Poilievre said. “Addiction robs the most vulnerable Canadians’ ability to choose recovery. We will help them take back control of their lives with care, compassion, and a commitment to bringing them home drug-free.”

To do this, a new Conservative Government will: 

  • Allow judges to sentence offenders to mandatory treatment for addiction, giving courts the power to order treatment as an alternative to prison when people are too sick to choose it themselves and the offender’s only crimes involve small quantities of drugs for their own use and other minor non-violent infractions, where provincial legislation allows it.
  • Require recovery-oriented rehabilitation in prisons, ensuring that more serious offenders struggling with addiction participate in evidence-based therapeutic living programs in prison, where such treatment is available.
  • End the failed Liberal so-called “safe supply” experiment that has flooded streets with taxpayer-funded addictive opioids, keeping people hooked instead of helping them heal.
  • Impose life sentences on fentanyl traffickers and criminal organizations profiting off the opioid crisis.

During the Lost Liberal Decade, radical Liberal experiments with free drugs have failed the most vulnerable people in our society. The Liberals decriminalized dangerous drugs and gave out taxpayer-funded hard drugs, abandoning people in active addiction to die on the streets. 

The result? More than 50,000 Canadians have died from opioid overdoses, representing a 200% increase since 2016. More Canadians have now died of drug overdoses than those who died fighting for Canada in the Second World War.

Under Poilievre’s plan, those suffering will be given a real path off the streets, with safe housing, medical detox, evidence-based medication and structured rehabilitation that helps them rebuild their lives. Possession of illegal drugs would remain a crime, but we would allow judges to order a recovery-focused alternative to prison for those with simple possession offences, giving them a chance to turn their lives around.

“For too long, governments have let people suffer, calling it ‘compassion’ to feed their addiction while doing nothing to get them off the street and into treatment,” said Poilievre. “That’s not kindness. That’s cruelty. It’s time to stop the suffering and let people take back control of their lives.” 

Only a new Conservative Government will turn hurt into hope and bring our loved ones home drug-free to put Canada First—For a Change.