3 women in addiction recovery in Windsor, Ont., say help instead of arrest could have been life-changing

Being caught in a constant “hamster wheel” without any help is how Tracy Bechard remembers a time when she was addicted to drugs, getting arrested and wondering what help existed for her.

Now, she’s 21 months sober and trained in peer support while sharing a home with other women at House of Hope — a transitional living environment for people in recovery.

“If I would have, at that time, been offered help in order to deal with my substance abuse, it could have changed the entire trajectory of my life,” said Bechard. “I would have never went down as deep into the pit as I have if I just would have had somebody there to help me navigate the supports.”

Bechard is reacting to a policy change at the Windsor Police Service where officers have been instructed to arrest and charge anyone they see openly using illegal drugs.

When an arrest is made, Windsor police deputy chief Ken Cribley said sometimes supports are offered, in addition to the nurses or social workers who are paired with officers.

The new policy started over the summer and was in response to “what the community wants,” said Cribley.

He added that the public has been complaining to police for months about open drug use and Cribley has “heard the concerns loud and clear.”

Part of the reason Windsor police didn’t arrest people openly using drugs for years was because Crown attorneys were instructed not to pursue most of those cases in the courts.

In 2020, the Public Prosecution Service of Canada (PPSC), which pursues drug charges in court, told federal lawyers to avoid prosecuting simple drug possession charges unless they’re considered “the most serious cases.”

Having been arrested, jailed and thrusted through the court system, Bechard said she thinks police are taking the wrong approach.

“Most people don’t know where to go or what to do and you end up homeless and stuck in that constant hamster wheel that just keeps going and going,” said Bechard.

Bechard has 27 criminal convictions on her record, all connected to her struggle with substance abuse.

“Just trying to survive by shoplifting, and then the breaches were piling on and the failure to appears and everything else,” said Bechard. 

“There was never a time, not one single time, where one officer ever reached out and said why don’t you do this instead of this,” she added.

One of Bechard’s House of Hope roommates is Mercedes Russell.

She’s been sober now for 14 months and her journey through the judicial system started with a simple drug possession charge while she was addicted to substances.

“That’s not the answer,” Russell said.

“Sober living is the only thing that has worked for me,” said Russell. “Once you’ve raised the bar so high, you look back and you don’t feel like you belong there anymore.”

House of Hope provides that sober living environment for dozens of people in the community.

Many of them come straight from jail and are required to be there for a period of time or be sent back behind bars.

They’re also drug tested weekly to ensure everyone under the roof is maintaining their sobriety.

“If we were to not follow the expectations of the house or be non-compliant of our bail, then we would be breached and sent back to jail,” said Bechard.

Amanda Dubrovay is new to House of Hope, having been there for roughly two weeks and sober for about two months.

Still, she said her goals remain the same as some of the veterans who live under the same roof.

“Getting those little wins. Start building foundations and support groups and seeing what I can do to give back into the world,” said Dubrovay, adding that she wants to have a better relationship with her daughter.

Had she been offered help, instead of being charged with simple possession early on in her addiction, Dubrovay also said it would have had a big impact.

“If someone gifted me the hand of help, I would have clawed at it the same way I did now,” said Dubrovay.