Parents should be allowed to force their drug-addicted teenagers into treatment, says Summerside city council.

Council voted Monday night to write a letter to P.E.I. Health Minister Chester Gillan asking for the change.

Gillan has previously expressed concern that forcing teenagers into treatment would violate charter rights, but Coun. Garth Lyle noted that British Columbia, Alberta and Manitoba allow parents to force their children into treatment.

"Let's go ahead and do it, because in the other provinces there has been no challenges yet," said Lyle.

"We're talking about major populations in some of them, and so I think it's pretty safe here that we could put this through without infringing on anybody's basic human rights."

Lyle said Gillan should act now rather than wait for a case to make it through the courts.

Gillan told the legislature last month that the province is committed to opening a youth drug addiction centre in P.E.I. But he says it won't have locks on the doors, and addicted teens will have to want to be admitted for treatment before being accepted.

Summerside council unanimously supported Lyle's motion to write a letter to Gillan.