Pubdate: Thu, 23 May 2013
Source: Edmonton Journal (CN AB)
Copyright: 2013 The Edmonton Journal
Contact: 
http://www.edmontonjournal.com/opinion/letters/letters-to-the-editor.html
Website: http://www.edmontonjournal.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/134
Author: Peter O'Neil
Cited: Canadian Drug Policy Coalition: http://drugpolicy.ca/
Referenced: Getting To Tomorrow: A Report on Canadian Drug Policy:
http://drugpolicy.ca/report/CDPC2013_en.pdf

LIFT BAN ON DRUGS: REPORT

Harper Government Denounced for 'Punitive' Policies

The personal use of illegal drugs, including heroin and crack 
cocaine, should be decriminalized as part of a federal-provincial 
strategy to tackle drug abuse, a B.C.-based national coalition of 
drug policy experts argue.

In a report to be released Thursday , the coalition denounces the 
Harper government's aggressive war on drugs, which puts the emphasis 
on law enforcement while steering money away from harm-reduction 
initiatives like Vancouver's supervised injection site.

"While countries all around the world are adopting forward-thinking, 
evidence-based drug policies, Canada is taking a step backwards and 
strengthening punitive policies that have been proven to fail," says 
a summary of the 112-page report from the Canadian Drug Policy 
Coalition, which is based at Simon Fraser University's Centre for 
Applied Research in Mental Health and Addiction.

The "stunning display of unimaginative thinking" has failed to 
decrease the flow of drugs into Canada while hampering efforts to 
deal with drug-related health problems.

"Despite Canada's significant investment in drug control efforts, 
drugs are cheaper and more available than ever," the report notes.

Among the recommendations is a call to legalize, regulate and tax the 
sale of marijuana to adults, taking advantage of an underground 
business that generates an estimated $357 million in annual sales in 
B.C. alone, according to the authors.

By far the most controversial recommendation calls for the end to 
prohibition of not only "soft" drugs like marijuana, but products 
like heroin, cocaine and methamphetamines.

The report notes that at least 25 jurisdictions in the world have 
moved to decriminalize at least some drugs, with Portugal (in 2001) 
and the Czech Republic (in 2010) ending criminal bans for all drugs. 
The report is harshly critical of the federal government's anti-drug 
and tough-on-crime policies introduced since Stephen Harper became 
prime minister in 2006, including minimum mandatory sentences for 
certain drug offences.

Among the targets is the five-year National Anti-Drug Strategy, which 
was renewed for another five years in 2012 at a cost of $528 million. 
The program devotes most of its money (roughly 70 per cent) to law 
enforcement, according to the report.

It also goes after the Canadian Forces' substantial investment in 
counter-narcotics missions in the Caribbean Sea and the eastern Pacific .

It complains about the lack of support of, and in the case of the 
Vancouver supervised injection site aggressive opposition to, 
"harm-reduction" programs like needle exchanges that "save lives and 
protect everyone's health," according to the Newfoundland AIDS Committee.
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