Sometimes these situations turn out tragically because the patient was involuntarily given drugs, sometimes they turn out tragically because the patient wasn't.
I'm surprised they went with a time release injection -- from the sounds of it, when you say "time release" you mean on the order of 30-90 days, not "12 hours". I'd have expected them to just work on stabilization and then moving to an outpatient program. I'm very surprised they'd have used it without any history of it being effective.
In a more recent tale with a family member undergoing an involuntary stay, I'd have wished they'd used a longer term haloperidol injection.
There's not a one size fits all solution, and it's hard to balance legislation around personal freedoms vs recognizing when the patient is a harm to themselves/others, or even capable of making informed rationale decisions.
> My observation is that agony-inducing drugs are not actually helpful for substance abuse.
Haloperidol isn't for substance abuse, so I wouldn't expect it to perform well at it.