Pubdate: Wed, 28 Mar 2012
Source: Victoria Times-Colonist (CN BC)
Copyright: 2012 Times Colonist
Contact: http://www2.canada.com/victoriatimescolonist/letters.html
Website: http://www.timescolonist.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/481
Author: Sandra McCulloch

GOVERNMENT SHOULD RETHINK DRUG LAWS, HEALTH OFFICER SAYS

B.C.'S chief medical health officer is calling on the federal
government to evaluate its marijuana laws, including penalties,
regulation and taxation, as a way to improve community health and
safety in Canada.

Dr. Perry Kendall and his Nova Scotia counterpart, Dr. Robert Strang,
hope the Canadian government will reconsider elements of the omnibus
crime bill, particularly sections that call for mandatory minimum
sentences for those running afoul of drug laws.

Kendall and Strang have co-written a paper on improving public health
and safety through evidence based policies on illicit drugs, published
today in Open Medicine, an international peer-reviewed journal.

"Let's have an informed conversation about drug policy, looking at
successes and failures of the past," Kendall said Tuesday. "If we're
reducing substance abuse, reducing the harm from substance abuse, how
do we best go about it?"

The prevailing attitude has been to criminalize the drug's sale and
use, but that puts the $7-billion marijuana market into the hands of
gangs, Kendall said.

"It doesn't seem to have reduced access to cannabis on the streets in
any way that I can see," he said. "It's available to anybody who knows
where to look for it. We have successfully flooded the market with
cannabis through our attempts at prohibiting it."

Polls indicate that most B.C. residents support the decriminalization
and regulation of marijuana, Kendall said. While the Canadian
government is mulling the introduction of mandatory minimum sentences
for offenders, the U.S. has moved away from that model due to prisons
overcrowded with non-violent, drug-related offenders.

"The money spent on further incarceration would be better spent
upstream trying to create healthier kids who are less vulnerable to
the dangers of any substances, whether it's alcohol or cannabis,"
Kendall said.

Kendall says research continues to support the idea of incorporating
scientific evidence into illicit-drug policies. The approach is also
backed by the Vienna Declaration, which was conceived by a team of
experts and lauded at the 2010 International AIDS Conference.

Kendall said he's "not particularly optimistic" the Canadian
government will back down from its drug-enforcement policy.

A spokeswoman for federal Justice Minister Rob Nicholson said Tuesday
the government is targeting drug traffickers, not substance-abuse
victims or experimenting teenagers.

"The kinds of offenders we are targeting are those who are involved in
exploiting the addictions of others for personal profit," said Julie
Di Mambro in an email.

Six drug-treatment courts will receive $3.6 million a year, she said.
"By helping offenders overcome their addictions and improve their
social stability, we are reducing crimes across Canada," Di Mambro
said.
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