Can You Force a Family Member to Enter a Rehab Center

Forcing a Loved One into a Rehabilitation Center in the Philippines

This article answers these questions: Can I put my father or my mother in a rehab facility even without his or her permission or knowledge? Is it possible for a brother to force his sister to enter a rehab center even if she resists? Does the government has the right to send an unwilling citizen to a drug treatment institution?

Rehabilitation is one of the most effective ways of dealing with addiction issues, but it isn't easy for a person to voluntarily put himself under rehabilitation. Most of the drug dependents and alcoholics are in the state of denial and in some cases, they are not aware of their real condition. And when someone agrees to undergo rehabilitation, that person exposes his or her addiction weaknesses and thus becomes a target for discrimination; as a result of this, a lot of the victims of addiction in the Philippines opt to not undergo this type of addiction treatment.

R.A. 9165, Section VIII: The Law Concerning the Rehabilitation of Drug Addiction Victims

When a law concerning rehabilitation was passed by the Philippine Congress in 2002 (R.A. 9165), a provision was included in which only a person related by blood up to the fourth degree can recommend that a person whom they believe is a victim of addiction undergo rehabilitation. Any person who is proven to be under the influence of dangerous substances such as drugs after undergoing a drug test by DOH-accredited physicians will then be admitted to a rehabilitation center after a court order has been issued, after the addiction victim agrees voluntarily. If the victim is a minor (18 years old and below), it is the responsibility of his or her family member to file a request for him or her to be rehabilitated.

However, a person may also be admitted into a rehab center by force if he or she is found to be a victim of addiction while being prosecuted for a crime that has a penalty of less than six years and one day of imprisonment. In this case, the victim will be sent for rehabilitation in a DOH-operated facility (such as those based in Taguig, Bicutan and Tagaytay City) even without the consent of the victim. This applies to both minors and adult offenders.

Criticisms of Forced Rehabilitation: Its Disadvantages

Throughout its years of implementation, the compulsory admittance section of R.A. 9165 has been criticized for its provisions regarding a forced admission of an individual into a rehab center once it is proven that the person is under the influence of drugs. Many human rights activists in the Philippines have argued that not only does the law subtly violate an addiction victim’s right to freedom of choice, but it also results in a significantly reduced effectiveness of the rehabilitation treatment due to the person’s unwillingness to undergo rehabilitation.

It is essential to learn that rehabilitation treatments employ a lot of psychological factors, which would mean that in order for them to work, the patient should voluntarily agree to be treated. However, in a case wherein a person is forced into rehabilitation without his/her consent, the process may not work as effectively and the person may end up resuming his or her addictions once released because the main issue has not been dealt with – the willingness of the person to turn away from addiction.

The Other Side of the Coin: How Forced Rehabilitation Can Still Do Its Work

While there are indeed some cases wherein the effectiveness of being forced into rehab centers is significantly reduced, there are also cases where an addiction victim who compulsorily goes into rehabilitation successfully recovers from his or her addiction.

Many on the other side of the coin argue through observation that while an addiction victim may initially resist (as it is with many of those who enter rehab centers) being placed into rehabilitation, once they undergo the program they would gradually open up more and eventually allow themselves to be treated.

Furthermore, the programs used by many rehab centers in the Philippines were created with this kind of case being put in mind, which meant that the rehabilitation physicians already expect that an early rehab patient would always have their defenses up during the initial stages of the treatment, and as such used tactics that would cause the patient to slowly become less defensive and accept the fact that they need to turn away.

When we look at the case in a bigger perspective, what ultimately causes the rehabilitation treatment to succeed is conditioning an addiction victim’s mind that he or she needs help because the addiction is destroying him or her. That awareness of the danger of addictive substances must begin at home; with the parents constantly educating their children on what is right. Because the truth of the matter is that prevention is indeed better than cure.