Pubdate: Wed, 28 Mar 2012
Source: StarPhoenix, The (CN SN)
Copyright: 2012 The StarPhoenix
Contact: http://www.canada.com/saskatoonstarphoenix/letters.html
Website: http://www.canada.com/saskatoonstarphoenix/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/400
Author: Douglas Quan

DOCTORS ARGUE LAW 'INEFFECTIVE'

Three leading Canadian public-health physicians have added their 
voices to a growing campaign calling on the federal government to 
radically re-think its approach to the war on drugs.

In an article published Wednesday in the journal Open Medicine, the 
chief medical health officers for B.C., Saskatchewan and Nova Scotia 
say the criminalization of drug users has proven to be "ineffective" 
and that mandatory minimum sentences for certain drug offences 
represent a "complete departure from evidence based policy making."

The authors recommend shifting away from a law enforcement-centered 
drug policy to a health-centred approach that combines regulation and 
harm reduction.

"Let's use an evidence based approach, not an ideological approach," 
said coauthor Dr. Robert Strang, the chief public health officer for 
Nova Scotia, in an interview. "Clearly, what we're doing is not effective."

Continuing with the status quo will be costly, lead to bloated 
prisons and result in further unintended health consequences, 
including disease outbreaks among incarcerated drug users, and 
violence among organized crime groups fighting to control the black 
market, Strang said. Strang wrote the paper along with Dr. Perry 
Kendall, B.C.'S provincial health officer, Dr. Moira McKinnon, 
Saskatchewan's chief medical health officer, and Dr. Evan Wood, 
co-director of the Urban Health Research Initiative at the B.C. 
Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS.

The publication of the article comes a couple of weeks after the 
Conservatives used a majority to pass their controversial omnibus 
crime bill, which, among other things, toughens penalties for certain 
drug offences, including the introduction of mandatory minimum sentences.

The government has estimated that costs associated with the crime 
bill could reach about $80 million over five years.

Citing the example of the United States, the authors write that 
aggressive law enforcement has failed to reduce the drug supply or 
drive up prices.

"Instead, in recent decades, the prices of the more commonly used 
illegal drugs (e.g., cannabis and cocaine) have actually gone down, 
while potency has risen dramatically," they said.

The claim that a health based drug policy could lead to a rise in 
drug use is unfounded, the physicians say. They cite the example of 
Portugal, which decriminalized all drug use in 2001.

"A published review of the effects of decriminalization noted that 
this change was followed by 'reductions in problematic use, 
drug-related harms and criminal justice overcrowding,' with rates of 
drug use remaining among the lowest in the European Union," they write.

A system of controlled regulation of illegal drugs may offer several 
advantages over the unregulated market run by organized crime, the authors say.

Regulations could be tailored to each substance covering how they're 
marketed, sold, purchased and used.

Discussion about the regulation and taxation of marijuana has grown 
in recent months.

Earlier this year, the Liberal Party of Canada passed a resolution 
endorsing the concept. Last month, four former attorneys general in 
B.C. also spoke out in favour of legalizing marijuana.

More than two dozen current and former U.S. judges and 
law-enforcement officials recently sent a letter to the Harper 
government urging it not to repeat the mistakes of the American war 
on drugs, which they described as a "costly failure."

A spokeswoman for Justice Minister Rob Nicholson has said the 
government has "no intention to decriminalize or legalize marijuana" 
and "remains committed to ensuring criminals are held fully 
accountable for their actions."
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom