UBC Undergraduate Research

The Narcotic Addiction Foundation of British Columbia and the Emergence of a Healthcare System for Illicit Drug Use Andre-Peirano, Nathaniel Mark

Abstract

This thesis examines the history of the NAF in three comprehensive chapters. In chapter one, the formation of the NAF is analyzed to reveal how a contestation of ideas resulted in the first medical clinic for heroin addiction treatment in British Columbia. Chapter two chronologically follows and discusses two treatment methods that underpin the NAF's ideological development as an addiction treatment provider. For example, chapter two shows how the NAF developed ideas surrounding the "Prolonged Withdrawal" method which resulted in an ideological return to the prison as treatment model in the context of addiction. Chapter three brings new light to the NAF's final years to reveal how the NAF was the foundation of British Columbia's addiction treatment infrastructure and was influential, if not largely responsible, for British Columbia's Heroin Treatment Act of 1978. Ultimately, this thesis provides a comprehensive and systematic analysis of the NAF from inception to cessation to argue that the initial NAF values of voluntary addiction treatment and rehabilitation were superseded by the desire to compel all illicit drug users into treatment for the sake of preserving individual and national health.

Item Citations and Data

Rights

Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International