An Outreach Worker Called the Police on My Neighbour After a Drug Overdose

Tonight I just witnessed my neighbour, who had just overdosed, being involuntarily admitted under the Mental Health Act by several police officers pinning him to the floor with little dialogue, after being called in by an outreach worker, and it was completely unnecessary.

To be honest, I have to admit my newest neighbour is a handful. He’s using hard drugs, has psychotic and suicidal tendencies, and is often completely unreasonable. I even had to revive him with naloxone lately, and he’s only been here for a month or two. I wish him all the help he needs, may it be treatment or detox, counselling, safer supply, whatever works for him.

But not everybody sees it that way. To many outreach workers, someone like my neighbour is just a bag of problems they’d rather get rid of, and even a veteran drug user advocate such as myself can’t get through that thick hide of theirs. That’s the kind of situation I got involved in tonight.

The incident started at about 6:40PM. The tenant was brought back to his room, after overdosing off-site, by another outreach worker whom I do not have an issue with. After the tenant locked himself up in his room and displayed suicidal ideation, this outreach worker contemplated calling the police, while I strongly suggested otherwise; I proposed calling the Community-Led Crisis Response Team (CLCR) instead, which has precisely been introduced to minimise interaction between the mentally ill and law enforcement.

The outreach worker in question seemed receptive and was about to look up the number when another one barged in, the one I’m complaining about. He took charge and decided to call the police instead, in spite of my objection. Any outreach worker, especially a veteran, ought to know it is reckless to get the police involved with a mentally ill person who just had an overdose, as police officers have a long history of injuring and even killing patients in such encounters. I’m particularly aggravated by the fact it was completely unnecessary; we just had a similar incident with the same tenant not two weeks ago, in which I brought him back to life, and we didn’t need to call the cops afterwards, we somehow managed to talk this out with him.

Well the cops predictably barged into his room with little dialogue and four of them pinned him to the floor for several minutes, which was grossly excessive. That’s when I decided to assume the role of legal observer and started recording the scene. None of the officers had an issue with this, especially since they know me very well for operating in this capacity. I gave them ample space to work and promised not to interfere.

Apparently that was too much for the outreach worker I’m complaining against, who started berating and even threatening me with eviction for “interfering with emergency services” in spite of the fact I have a recording to prove otherwise. This crosses the line by a mile. I’ve already notified his employer and I’m filing a formal complaint against him at the first opportunity.

I am withholding the recording for the moment, in order to protect my neighbour’s privacy. I would rather not have to release it. I certainly hope my landlord can be reasoned with and this kind of incident will not happen again. Drug users with mental health issues have rights, such as being treated with empathy and dignity as opposed to being manhandled by gorillas, and that really needs to be drilled into some outreach workers’ thick skulls.

UPDATE: My neighbour came back by 11:55PM, most likely after refusing treatment, which is a very common outcome. It was all for nothing.