LESSONS TO BE LEARNED: THE DECISION OF THE SOCIAL BENEFITS TRIBUNAL IN TRANCHEMONTAGNE V. ONTARIO (DIRECTOR, DISABILITY SUPPORT PROGRAM)
In April 2009, the Ontario Social Benefits Tribunal ended a 10 years battle for appellants, Norman Werbeski and Robert Tranchemontagne in its deliberation that the Ontario Disability Supports Program Act violated their rights as enshrined in the Ontario Human Rights Code when it failed to recognize their alcoholism as a disability. 

Drawing specific excerpts from the Respondents (Ontario government) defence and the Social Benefit Tribunal’s decision, the essay looks at how government policy affects persons with substance addiction and argues that Section 5(2) of the ODSPA places burdens on substance abusers and contributes significantly to their social stigma. 

The outcomes of excluding substance addiction from the United States Social Assistance Programmes are reviewed and referred to in analyzing the Respondent’s claims. The conclusion highlights how this case reflects key steps towards greater inclusion for persons with disabilities and in particular for those whose disability is addiction and alcoholism. 

Keywords: Social Benefits Tribunal, Ontario Disability Supports Program Act, alcoholism, disability, stigma
Parallel Process: Moral Failure, Addiction and Society
Recent legislation restricting disability and other financial benefits for persons with substance related disorders provides the latest chapter in this country's relationship with mind altering chemicals and its attempts to control their use. Whether seen from the perspective of a substance user or from that of an angry and insecure public, this relationship seems to lead inevitably to self-destructive processes. This paper will examine the historical context of drug control policy in this country and the impact of current policy on vulnerable populations and on society as a whole. Parallels between factors which drive addictive disorders and those that perpetuate ineffective public policy will be considered along with their moral implications.
Situational norms for drinking and drunkenness: trends in the US adult population, 1979-1990.
Drinking depends on time, place, situation and personal characteristics. Patterns and trends in situational drinking norms (subjective levels of acceptable consumption for various situations) for US adults are reported. Results are based on eight comparable normative questions from national household surveys conducted in 1979 (n = 1772), 1984 (n = 5221 including Hispanic and black oversamples) and 1990 (n = 2058). Across years and population subgroups, a correspondence in ordering of situations on acceptability of drinking and of drunkenness was found. There were contrasting secular trends in the acceptability of drunkenness in different situations: drinking "enough to feel the effects" became more acceptable when at home but less acceptable in several other situations, particularly for men at a bar. For a decreasing percentage of respondents of both genders, it remains more acceptable for men than women to drink in bars, but gender norms in such "wetter" situations were converging by 1990. Men remain more accepting of drinking (but not drunkenness) for "dryer" situations such as when driving, but the trend is towards reduced acceptance. Multiple regression models predicting "acceptance of drinking" and "acceptance of drunkenness" scores showed fair stability in explanatory variables over time, with drinking level and conservative Protestant affiliation (drinking) or age (drunkenness) the major contributors.