Pubdate: Sat, 25 May 2013
Source: Calgary Herald (CN AB)
Copyright: 2013 Canwest Publishing Inc.
Contact: http://www2.canada.com/calgaryherald/letters.html
Website: http://www.calgaryherald.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/66
Author: Jason Van Rassel
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

POLICE OPPOSE CALL TO LEGALIZE DRUGS IN CANADA

A report out Thursday calls on Canada to decriminalize personal use 
of all narcotics and regulate cannabis, saying current policies are 
failing to reduce drug use or make Canadians safer.

But lawmakers and police countered by saying decriminalization will 
not eliminate the social ills created by addiction or stop organized crime.

The Canadian Drug Policy Coalition report says treating drug use as a 
health problem, rather than a criminal one, would meet many of the 
objectives prohibition has historically failed to accomplish.

"We're doing this to improve public health and safety, not create a 
free-for-all. What we have now is a free-for-all," said executive 
director Donald MacPherson, who co-authored the report.

MacPherson stressed the coalition, made up of 30 non-governmental 
organizations and based at Simon Fraser University, doesn't make the 
case that drug use is harmless.

However, MacPherson said treating drug possession and consumption as 
a criminal matter stigmatizes users and creates a barrier to them seeking help.

"This is a pragmatic response to an activity that's already taking 
place ... and we're saying criminalization is making it worse," said 
MacPherson.

Decriminalizing personal use would allow police to focus more 
resources on organized crime groups involved in larger-scale 
trafficking or manufacturing, MacPherson added.

For police, the point is largely moot as long as lawmakers maintain 
the status quo.

"When a law is on the books, we're compelled to enforce it," said 
Staff Sgt. Tom Hanson of the Calgary police drug unit.

Even if drugs are decriminalized, Hanson said history has 
demonstrated organized crime groups would replace that revenue stream 
with another racket.

Hanson said police and the justice system have been adopting more 
progressive attitudes toward the problem with measures such as 
specialized drug courts, which send addicts to treatment instead of jail.

"We went to make sure people who are suffering the ill effects of 
drug addiction aren't necessarily punished for their addiction, and I 
think that's where I can agree with the (Canadian Drug Policy 
Coalition's) document," he said.

Decriminalizing use of all drugs is a controversial recommendation in 
North America, where Prime Minister Stephen Harper's Conservative 
government has been in lockstep with the U.S. federal government 
against any incremental moves toward easing laws.

Liberal governments under former prime ministers Jean Chretien and 
Paul Martin were moving toward decriminalizing marijuana, but the 
election of Harper's Conservatives in 2006 put an end to that.

However, there are signs attitudes are shifting in the U.S.

Last year, voters in Colorado and Washington passed ballot measures 
decriminalizing personal use of marijuana in their states.

Public opinion in Canada is also turning in favour of decriminalizing 
cannabis, said MacPherson, whose report goes a step further to 
recommend regulating and taxing it.

Pointing toward tobacco as an example, MacPherson said regulation 
could decrease cannabis use and do more to keep it out of the hands 
of young people.

"It would allow us to have a full discussion of the benefits, the 
harms, the messaging we want to put out there with youth and underage 
users," he said.

A 2012 study done by researchers in B.C. estimated the value of the 
province's recreational marijuana market at more than $350 million - 
a lucrative commodity the government could reap tax revenue from if 
it was regulated, MacPherson said. Instead, the report said the 
federal government has set aside $528 million between 2012 and 2017 
for its National Anti-Drug plan, with most of that money going toward 
law enforcement.

The coalition says Canada's approach is out of step with an 
increasing number of countries that are decriminalizing drugs and 
seeing benefits - including Portugal, which decriminalized all 
illicit drugs in 2001.

"In Portugal, decriminalization has had the effect of decreasing the 
numbers of people injecting drugs, decreasing the number of people 
using drugs problematically, and decreasing trends of drug use among 
15-to 24-year-olds," the coalition's 112-page report says.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom