Pubdate: Tue, 16 Jan 2007 Source: Vancouver 24hours (CN BC) Copyright: 2007 Canoe Inc Contact: http://vancouver.24hrs.ca/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/3837 Author: Robyn Stubbs, 24 Hours STUDY SLAMS FEDERAL DRUG PLAN Findings of a new report show funding for law enforcement far outweighs funding for drug prevention, treatment and harm reduction initiatives in Canada. The highly critical review by the B.C. Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS stated the federal government is stuck pursuing an ideological agenda while ignoring scientific evidence when it comes to formulating and carrying out Canada's Drug Strategy. "The numbers clearly demonstrate that the vast majority of funding goes to law enforcement and surprisingly little goes to harm reduction," which is contrary to what most Canadians believe, said Julio Montaner, senior author of the review and director of the centre. "Considering [the fact] that addiction is a problem for which we have no definitive answer, shouldn't we agree that all aspects of the drug strategy be subject to scrutiny, so every part can be re-designed to better meet the outcomes we all desire?" he asked. "We have subjected the harm reduction initiative to a very high level of scrutiny, and we would like to see that applied to every aspect of the Canada Drug Strategy," said Montaner, adding "this is not about what you like, this [is] about public health." YOU SHOULD KNOW According to the B.C. Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS, $368 million was spent in 2004/05 addressing illicit drugs. Here's how it was spent: - - 73 per cent: law enforcement ($271 million) - - 14 per cent: treatment ($51 million) - - 7 per cent: research ($26 million) - - 2.6 per cent: prevention ($10 million) - - 2.6 per cent: harm reduction ($10 million) - --- MAP posted-by: Elaine