CANADA (CBC News/CNN) – A Canadian father says his drug-addicted daughter has been out of control recently, and he had no choice but to break the law to keep her from going to buy more drugs.
Paige O’Leary, 16, is in many respects a typical suburban teenager, but her life has been disrupted by her addition to dangerous drugs, including Xanax and cocaine.
On June 17, Paige’s father, Sean O’Leary, suspected his daughter was heading out to buy more drugs, so he took a desperate measure – forcing his daughter to stay at home and stay off drugs.
O’Leary says he knows that’s illegal.
"By holding them in your house and not letting them out to do drugs, you're breaking the law. Any options as a family we’re left with require us to break the law,” the father said.
Held at home against her will, Paige found a hidden cell phone and called 911. The police came to her house and picked her up.
"I ask them to drive me to Kanata [a nearby city], just so I can go do drugs,” Paige said.
The officers spoke with the girl alone and decided to drive her to a fast food restaurant in Kanata.
“So, in the end she got her free Uber ride that she wanted in the first place, and there was Dad sitting back at home going, ‘What the heck happened?’” O’Leary said.
Constable Cory McAree with the Ottawa Police Service works with young people, and he says he isn’t surprised by the situation.
"If they're over 16, there's nothing we can do to make that youth stay. They have that freedom to go at any point in time if they wish,” McAree said.
It’s a situation that’s left O’Leary feeling powerless.
"It's a scary situation for families and for everybody,” he said.
O’Leary went public with a campaign to help teens with addiction earlier this year and founded a support group called “We the Parents.”
Copyright 2017 CBC News via CNN. All rights reserved.
