Pubdate: Wed, 06 Feb 2008 Source: Metro (CN BC) Copyright: Metro 2008 Contact: http://www.metronews.ca/home.aspx?city=vancouver Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/3775 Author: Andrew Fifield Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/decrim.htm (Decrim/Legalization) DRUG USE MEDICAL ISSUE, NOT CRIMINAL: GREEN PARTY Federal Green Party deputy leader Adriane Carr hopes that the end of the United Nations Beyond 2008 conference in Vancouver yesterday will offer lessons for Canadian drug policy. "What is clear to me is that the track we are on is wrong," Carr said. "We need to redirect our resources away from punishing people and toward treating them for what is a medical, not a criminal, issue. The war on drugs has been costly, ineffective and simply bad policy." Carr said that the Green Party is supporting delegates to the two-day conference who advocate the regulation and taxation of marijuana. - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom