Pubdate: Sat, 10 May 2014
Source: Calgary Herald (CN AB)
Copyright: 2014 Postmedia Network
Contact:  http://www.calgaryherald.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/66
Author: Douglas Quan
Page: A17
Referenced: Ending the Drug Wars (Report of the LSE Expert Group on 
the Economics of Drug Policy): http://mapinc.org/url/t4FrTmuU

MEMO TO TORIES: DRUG WAR NOT 'JUSTIFIED'

Report Tells Canada to Follow Colorado's Lead

The Conservative government seriously needs to pay attention to a new 
London School of Economics report that concludes the global war on 
drugs has failed, drug-policy experts said Friday.

The 82-page report, titled Ending the Drug Wars and signed by five 
Nobel Prize economists, urges countries to redirect massive resources 
away from law enforcement-centred policies toward "public 
health-based policies of harm reduction and treatment."

Under strict monitoring, states should also be encouraged to 
"experiment" with alternative drug policies - such as the recent 
legalization and regulation of marijuana in Colorado and Washington 
state - to determine which ones work best, the report said.

"Continuing to spend vast resources on punitive enforcement-led 
policies, generally at the expense of proven public-health policies, 
can no longer by justified," the authors state.

Simon Fraser University professor Benedikt Fischer, who holds a 
research chair in applied public health with the Canadian Institutes 
of Health Research, said Friday the latest report adds to a growing 
list of seminal studies that have shown the immense "collateral 
damage" of current prohibition- and policing-centred policies.

The consequences, he said, include teenagers being forced into the 
underground black market to buy drugs, drug-related overdose 
fatalities, the spread of HIV infection because of unhealthy 
conditions, people burdened with criminal records for simple 
marijuana possession and large amounts of money "wasted" on futile 
drug-enforcement operations.

Yet, Fischer said, the Conservative government has adopted a "more of 
the same" attitude, referring to the government's adoption of 
mandatory minimum sentences and other tough-on-crime policies.

"They should be reacting (to this report) by categorically and 
un-ideologically reviewing and accepting that this approach has 
failed and to consider sensible alternatives," he said. "I'm not 
talking about policy tinkering to try to touch up what we're doing, 
but to fundamentally step away from this pretence that we can 
criminalize and police drug-use behaviour."

Paloma Aguilar, press secretary for Justice Minister Peter MacKay, 
said in an email Friday that the production and trafficking of 
illicit drugs is the most significant source of money for gangs and 
organized crime.

"That is why we are combating the source of the illicit drug trade by 
targeting drug traffickers and those who import drugs into Canada," she said.

"Furthermore, our approach allows for the use of drug treatment 
courts to ensure that non-violent offenders can have access to the 
treatment they need."

Globally, treatment for drug dependence and harm-reduction services 
remain severely underfunded or unavailable, despite evidence that 
they help to save lives and prevent the spread of disease, the report said.

The report cited research highlighting the benefits of 
needle-exchange programs (where used injection equipment can be 
exchanged for sterile equipment) and safe-injection sites (where 
individuals can inject illicit drugs in the presence of health 
professionals). Such a facility in Vancouver's downtown eastside, 
called Insite, has helped to reduce overdose-related deaths in the 
area, the report noted.

The Harper government had attempted to shut down the facility and 
took the case all the way to the Supreme Court of Canada. But in 
September 2011, the top court said the facility had saved lives and 
should be exempted from drug laws.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom