Pubdate: Thu, 27 Jun 2013
Source: Georgia Straight, The (CN BC)
Copyright: 2013 The Georgia Straight
Contact:  http://www.straight.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1084
Author: Scott Bernstein
Note: Scott Bernstein is a staff lawyer at Pivot and heads up Pivot's Health
and Drug Policy Campaign. This post was originally published at
www.PivotLegal.org .

IT'S TIME TO STOP PUNISHING PEOPLE WHO USE DRUGS

Support. Don't punish.

Three simple words that sum up so much of what is wrong with drug 
policy across the globe in 2013 and what we are fighting for at Pivot 
with our Health and Drug Policy Campaign.

Today (June 26) marks the global day of action by 
supportdontpunish.org to raise awareness of the harms being caused by 
the criminalization of people who use drugs across the world and 
advocate for evidence-based harm reduction.

We've added our voice to the group of NGOs around the world who 
support the call for evidence-based interventions that are effective 
at halting or reversing the HIV/AIDS epidemic among people who inject 
drugs and removing the political, legislative, and ideological 
barriers that are in place to deny people who use drugs access to 
health care and human rights.

While organizations today take up the call for human rights compliant 
programs to address the harms associated with drug use in countries 
as wide-ranging as China, India, Indonesia, Kenya, and Malaysia, we 
are reminded that Canada is staking a claim on the wrong side of this 
argument and of history.

Over the last year, Canada has moved away from its international 
human rights obligations, away from the recommendations of 
international agencies supporting public health such as WHO, UNAIDS, 
and UNODC, and has chartered a path towards increased criminalization 
of people who use drugs and reduced access to harm reduction strategies.

These policies will harm the most marginalized members of our 
community, and have large economic and social costs.

March of this year marked the one-year anniversary of the 
Conservative Government's sweeping legislation that enacted the 
first-ever mandatory minimum sentences for drug offences. The Safe 
Streets and Communities Act (SSCA), alternately known as Bill C-10 
and the "Omnibus Crime Bill" was passed by Parliament on March 12, 
2012. When the SSCA was debated in Parliament, Canadians were told 
that many provisions of the Act, including the introduction of 
mandatory minimum sentences for a number of drug offences, would 
target "serious organized drug crime" rather than people struggling 
with drug dependence.

Many well-respected commentators, including the Canadian Bar 
Association, the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, and the 
Assembly of First Nations have argued, however, that these amendments 
will affect a spectrum of drug offenders, including people involved 
in the sale and/or production of illicit substances as a result of 
their struggle with drug dependence.

Pivot recently released its report, "Throwing Away the Keys: the 
human and social cost of mandatory minimum sentences", which looked 
at the impacts of these new sentences on marginalized people who use 
drugs. We concluded that these new laws would have a disproportionate 
impact on marginalized drug users, would likely violate their Charter 
rights, and have little or no effect whatsoever on crime rates or the 
number of people using drugs. We issued a "call to arms" to the legal 
profession to stand up against this legislation and challenge it in the courts.

While Canada takes a turn towards increased criminalization of people 
who use drugs, other nations-most notably the United States-are 
rethinking their approach to drug use. Faced with a per capita 
imprisonment rate higher than anywhere else in the world and prisons 
filled with half a million people serving long sentences for 
small-time drug offences, several US states have begun a process of 
drug law reform aimed at reducing our reliance on incarceration to 
address drug offences.

Last fall, while Canada geared up to issue harsh mandatory sentences 
to people who are dependent on drugs and get caught in the cycle of 
criminal justice, Colorado and Washington made cannabis-a drug used 
by Canadian teens at a higher rate than anywhere else in the 
developed world-legal for recreational use.

The discussion cannot stop at the point where we acknowledge that 
criminalization of drug use is a harm to individuals and society in 
and of itself. Something more is needed.

We need to work to ensure that people who use drugs are not denied 
access to proven health care, and not denied their human rights. 
International bodies have recognized that there is a human right to 
health care. This right includes receiving health care on an 
equitable basis and not being denied care because of stigma or discrimination.

These rights are guaranteed in a number of international agreements, 
including Article 25 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and 
Article 12 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and 
Cultural Rights. Commonplace, low-cost interventions, such as 
providing sterile needles or opioid substitution treatment, are 
recognized to be basic health care actions that stem the spread of 
deadly diseases such as HIV and Hepatitis C.

Other interventions, such as supervised consumption for drug users 
and prescription heroin, are proven to reduce overdose death, 
stabilize people who use drugs, and lead to markedly greater uptake 
of treatment services.

When governments seek-through legislation or policy-to block access 
to health care for people who use drugs based on their moral dislike 
of drug use and people who use drugs-they are discriminating, 
violating human rights, and violating the Canadian Charter.

One month ago, Pivot brought a lawsuit and human rights complaint on 
behalf of our clients seeking to overturn Abbotsford's anti-harm 
reduction zoning bylaw. We are arguing that this bylaw is outside of 
the jurisdiction of the municipality, and violates protections 
guaranteed under the Charter. Abbotsford's bylaw, along with others 
in British Columbia, stand in the way of people who use drugs from 
accessing health care that can save their lives and improve public 
health and safety.

Early this month, the federal government joined suit by introducing 
Bill C-65, the "Respect for Communities Act". This legislation, which 
introduces over 20 new restrictions for organizations seeking to 
establish supervised consumption services in their cities, makes it 
all but impossible for people who use drugs to access these 
life-saving services.

This legislation, which outlined how groups must seek community input 
before applying for permission to set up a consumption site, was 
introduced at the same time the Conservative Party issued an email to 
its members fomenting community opposition around supervised 
consumption services. The email, grounded in the basest of NIMBY 
scare tactics, illustrated why it is so important to leave health 
care decisions in the hands of the doctors and not community opinion.

Support. Don't punish. It's a simple concept that means we, as a 
society, need to recognize that drug dependency is a health issue and 
not a criminal justice matter.

We need to break down the barriers standing between people who use 
drugs and harm reduction services that promote public health. Won't 
you join in the support for evidence-based interventions that save lives?
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom