Pubdate: Thu, 23 May 2013
Source: National Post (Canada)
Copyright: 2013 Canwest Publishing Inc.
Contact: http://drugsense.org/url/wEtbT4yU
Website: http://www.nationalpost.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/286
Author: Peter O'Neil
Page: 7
Cited: Canadian Drug Policy Coalition: http://drugpolicy.ca/
Referenced: http://drugpolicy.ca/report/CDPC2013_en.pdf

DECRIMINALIZE HEROIN, COCAINE B.C. COALITION SUGGESTS

OTTAWA - The personal use of illicit drugs, from heroin to crack
cocaine, should be decriminalized as part of a federal-provincial
strategy to tackle drug abuse, a B.C.-based national coalition of drug
policy experts argue in a report to be released Thursday.

The report denounces the Harper government's aggressive war on drugs
that has put the emphasis on law enforcement while steering money away
from harm-reduction initiatives like Vancouver's supervised injection
site.

"While countries all around the world are adopting forward-thinking,
evidence-based drug policies, Canada is taking a step backwards and
strengthening punitive policies that have been proven to fail," states
a summary of the 112-page report from the Canadian Drug Policy
Coalition, headquartered at Simon Fraser University's Centre for
Applied Research in Mental Health and Addiction.

The "stunning display of unimaginative thinking" - by Ottawa and
provincial governments - has failed to decrease the flow of drugs into
Canada while hampering efforts to deal with drug-related health harms.

"Despite Canada's significant investment in drug control efforts,
drugs are cheaper and more available than ever," the report notes.

Among the recommendations is a call to legalize, regulate and tax the
sale of marijuana to adults, taking advantage of an underground
business that generates an estimated $357-million in annual sales in
B.C. alone, according to the authors.

But by far the most controversial recommendation calls for the end to
prohibition of not only "soft" drugs like marijuana, but also products
like heroin, cocaine and methamphetamines.

The report notes that at least 25 jurisdictions around the world have
moved to decriminalize at least some drugs, with Portugal in 2001 and
the Czech Republic in 2010 ending prohibition for all drugs.

"After decriminalization and similar to Portugal, drug use (among
Czechs) has not increased significantly but the social harms of drug
use have declined," the report stated.

"In Portugal decriminalization has had the effect of decreasing the
numbers of people injecting drugs, decreasing the number of people
using drugs problematically, and decreasing trends of drug use among
15 to 24 year olds."

The CDPC lists as its "partners" more than 70 organizations, including
the B.C. Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS, the Central Alberta AIDS
Network Society, the Canadian Cancer Survivor Network, and the
Canadian Association of Nurses in AIDS Care.

Its report is harshly critical of the federal government's anti-drug
and tough-on-crime policies introduced since Stephen Harper became
prime minister in 2006, including minimum mandatory sentences for
certain drug offences.

Among the targets is the five-year National Anti-Drug Strategy, which
was renewed for another five years in 2012 at an overall cost of
$528-million. The program devotes an overwhelming majority of its
funding (roughly 70%) on law enforcement initiatives, according to the
authors.

The report also goes after the Canadian Forces' substantial investment
in counter-narcotics missions in the Caribbean Sea and the eastern
Pacific, involving warships and aircraft operating with U.S. forces.

And it complains about the lack of support of, and in the case of the
Vancouver supervised injection site aggressive opposition to, "harm
reduction" programs like needle exchanges that "save lives and protect
everyone's health," according to the Newfoundland AIDS Committee.

The Harper government has never flinched from its strong support for
get-tough measures against crime and especially drug offences, often
sneering at academic studies suggesting that its measures, while
popular among many Conservative party supporters, had debatable or
even counterproductive results.

In 2007, for instance, then-health minister Tony Clement declared that
the "party's over" while speaking of his party's contempt for the
former Liberal government's approach to illicit drug use.

The report cites 2011 Health Canada statistics indicating that B.C.
has the highest percentage of people who have used marijuana at least
once in their lives, with the B.C. rate of 44.3% well above the
national average of 39.4%.

Health Canada said 12.1% of British Columbians said they smoked pot
over the past year, second behind Nova Scotia's 12.4% and well above
the national average of 9.1%.
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