Prison is the last place most parents want to see their child.

But for the parents of a 15-year-old meth addict it was the only choice. After their daughter was caught stealing a car they wrote to the judge begging for prison time. It was the only way they saw to "detox" her.

"What she tells me is I like to do drugs. This is what I like to do right now. This is what I'm going to do right now," the teen's father said.

The teen can't be identified because she is a young offender. But her parents want their story told because they are frustrated that they can't force their drug-addicted daughter into treatment.

"They should force the kids into treatment,'' the father said.

"There's no other way they're going to get the help they need,'' added the girl's stepmother.

"Otherwise, they're living in danger.''

This meth addict and her family are far from being alone.

When Kathleen Nickel was searching for her drug addicted daughter Alicia, she launched a public campaign.

"I was terrified,'' she said. "I was just terrified that my child could die out there."

But when she finally came home, it became a desperate race to get her into treatment.

They knew she couldn't be kept in treatment in B.C., so they kidnapped her and took her to Alberta.

"It was horrible. The realities of the night were an absolute nightmare," Nickel said.

Alicia, now a recovered addict, recounted the incident in an interview with CTV.

"There was my dad and two big burly guys that I don't know who they are and they helped my dad drag me out to the car,'' she said. 

They drove through the night, while she was high and screaming and kicking.

"I was trying to cause an accident actually. I was trying to choke my dad with a seatbelt,'' said Alicia, who was admitted to the Alberta adolescent recovery centre in Calgary.

"At ARC they can sign you in against your will if you're under 18 and I was at the time,'' she said.

After a year in treatment, Alicia is clean, and thankful that her family were prepared to resort to such extreme measures. "I believe that it saved my life,'' she said.

Still, in B.C., forced treatment is not an option.

"Kids are dying and they have to change some of the laws around being able to help your children,'' said Nickel.

The three prairie provinces all have legislation for involuntary detox for drug-addicted minors.

B.C.'s Health Minister George Abbott says B.C. is studying the issue.

"It's a difficult and controversial area but it's one where I haven't formed any final conclusions about involuntary admission,'' said Abbott

But at lease one of his colleagues thinks it's time to act.

"Kids who are on drugs, frankly, don't have the cognitive ability to make good choices,'' said Mission-Maple Ridge, MLA Randy Hawes.

The answer, he says, is a "safe care act".

"That would give us the ability to lock those kids up, take them off the street or wherever they are in that drug world and put them in a safe place and hold them securely, " Hawes said.

There are concerns about such an act infringing on individual rights. But for parents of drug addicted children in this province, it's a matter of life and death.

"There's no guarantee she's even going to see 16 if this keeps up,'' said the step-mother of the 15-year-old meth addict.

With a report by CTV British Columbia's Michele Brunoro.