Pubdate: Thu, 04 Oct 2007
Source: Ottawa Citizen (CN ON)
Copyright: 2007 The Ottawa Citizen
Contact: http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/letters.html
Website: http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/326
Author: Juliet O'Neill
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/decrim.htm (Decrim/Legalization)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/hr.htm (Harm Reduction)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?142 (Supervised Injection Sites)

TORIES' WAR ON DRUGS TERMED U.S.-STYLE

Opposition Rejects Approach As Out Of Step, Ideological

A national anti-drug strategy that Prime Minister Stephen Harper is 
set to launch in Winnipeg today has been panned in advance by 
opposition party critics as too ideological.

The government is embracing a U.S.-style "war on drugs" that 
approaches drug abuse as more of a criminal matter than a health 
issue, Liberal and New Democratic Party critics said yesterday.

Vancouver Liberal MAP Keith Martin, a surgeon, and New Democratic MP 
Libby Davies, her party's drug policy critic, used similar terms in 
separate interviews about the $64-million plan.

Mr. Martin said marijuana and hard drugs, such as cocaine, should not 
be equated in "an ideological war on drugs."

Ms. Davies said Mr. Harper is "caught in an ideological time warp."

The plan is expected to include a major "no safe drugs" education 
campaign targeted at youth and parents and aimed in part at clearing 
up what Health Minister Tony Clement has called "confusion" about the 
safety and legality of marijuana.

It is neither safe, nor legal, he has emphasized, blaming confusion 
on a decade of debate about decriminalizing marijuana -- a move 
supported by Liberals and the NDP, but opposed by the Harper government.

Mr. Harper, accompanied by Mr. Clement, is scheduled to provide 
details at a news conference today of how the government will spend 
the promised $64 million to increase drug abuse prevention, treatment 
and criminal enforcement.

Mr. Clement has said two-thirds of the funds will be directed toward 
prevention and treatment, and the remainder toward combating illicit 
drug production and distribution.

On the eve of Mr. Harper's announcement, both MPs emphasized a need 
for harm-reduction programs, such as safe-injection sites and needle 
exchanges, which are not expected to play a major, if any, role in 
the strategy.

This week, Mr. Clement gave the Vancouver safe-injection site a 
six-month reprieve, to June 30, 2008, but critics said that was just 
to get the controversy over harm-reduction policy off the table for 
Mr. Harper's announcement.

"It was a cynical move to push this off the political agenda until 
after the general election and then they can shut it down," Mr. 
Martin said. "It was a ploy to get it off the table."

Ms. Davies said given that "umpteen studies" have shown the benefits 
of supervised injection programs, "they want to buy themselves time 
to get through an election" without accepting that harm reduction 
policies work.
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MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman