Pubdate: Sat, 17 Aug 2013
Source: Alberni Valley Times (CN BC)
Copyright: 2013 Alberni Valley Times
Contact:  http://www.canada.com/vancouverisland/albernivalleytimes/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/4043
Page: 6

LET'S NOT FOLLOW NEW ZEALAND'S PATH, YET

New Zealand is tackling synthetic drugs by regulating them instead of
banning them. B.C. health officials are watching the experiment
closely, but we should not rush to follow New Zealand down this road.

The frustration that drove New Zealand's lawmakers to try a novel
solution is familiar around the world. "Party drugs" such as spice,
meow-meow and bath salts are manufactured to produce similar effects
to marijuana, ecstasy and methamphetamine, and they are becoming
increasingly popular among people aged 15 to 20.

The variety of such drugs is also growing at a rate that health and
law-enforcement officials find hard to manage. The number of new
psychoactive drugs rose from 166 in 2009 to 251 by mid-2012, according
to a United Nations report.

In Canada, 59 new drugs were found in the first half of last year.
People who buy them have no idea what ingredients went into them. The
mixtures can lead to psychotic episodes, hallucinations and,
occasionally, death.

Compounding the problem is the ease with which the drugs can be made
or altered. Authorities no sooner declare a substance illegal than the
chemists tweak it so the new compound is different enough to be legal.

Canada had been a popular place to make ecstasy because it was not
illegal to possess the raw materials. When the law was tightened in
2011, manufacturers turned to compounds that had similar effects but
different chemistry.

New Zealanders hope they can reduce the risks by making the new drugs
legal, so their manufacture can be controlled to ensure quality.

While it is easy to understand their concern, opening the door to more
drugs is not the way to solve the problem. Assessing each drug,
determining its dangers, setting out manufacturing regulations and
policing those regulations would be a mammoth job.

Legal drugs go through exhaustive and time-consuming testing and
approval processes. The designer drugs would have to go through
similar procedures to ensure their safety. Users are not going to
wait, and the criminals will be happy to fill the demand while Health
Canada or some other agency is toiling through the approval process.

Individuals and families already suffer from the misery created by
both illegal drugs and legal substances such as alcohol. To suggest
that we should accept these drugs because we accept alcohol is not
helpful. Alcohol causes tremendous damage in our society; we struggle
constantly to deal with drunk driving, violence, health problems,
domestic troubles.

Alcohol, however, has been so deeply woven into societies around the
world for thousands of years that prohibiting it has become
impossible, as the United States discovered. We accept its heavy price
because most of us like it and - short of a massive shift in societal
attitudes - there's nothing we can do to get rid of it.

The designer drugs are new enough that we don't have to accept them as
inevitable - and we don't have to give them the stamp of approval that
comes with legalization.

Drug use is one of the most complex problems facing modern
societies.

Decriminalization of marijuana makes sense, but that doesn't mean
legalization of other drugs must follow. No matter how many drugs are
made legal, there will always be illegal ones, as manufacturers strive
to make money by offering new thrills to the willing and the gullible.

Most drugs can be hazardous. Ecstasy alone kills 10 to 24 people a
year in B.C.

Those who oppose the war on drugs believe it should be treated as a
health issue, not a law enforcement one. They are right, but that just
proves psychoactive drugs are not benign. They are dangerous, and we
must not pretend otherwise to ourselves or our children.

- - This editorial originally appeared in the Times Colonist.
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MAP posted-by: Matt