Pubdate: Fri, 14 Aug 2015
Source: Globe and Mail (Canada)
Copyright: 2015 The Globe and Mail Company
Contact:  http://www.theglobeandmail.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/168
Author: Daniel Bear
Note: Daniel Bear is a professor in the school of public safety at 
Sheridan College
Page: A11

CALL A TRUCE IN THE WAR ON DRUGS

Crack down on drug labs, put heroin users at unnecessary risk and 
maintain strict prohibition of cannabis. These are the core values of 
the Conservatives' recently announced drug policies set to be enacted 
if they are re-elected. This tough-on-drugs message is as outdated as 
it is uninformed by the scientific evidence.

Conservative Leader Stephen Harper is adamant that cannabis should 
remain an illegal drug because he believes it to be very dangerous. 
The science says otherwise, and we know that there are very limited 
dangers associated with cannabis. As a society we are well versed in 
taxing, regulating and educating the public about all manner of 
substances found to be far more dangerous than cannabis.

It is time to acknowledge the scientific evidence and enact cannabis 
policies appropriate to its risks. Even the Canadian Association of 
Chiefs of Police wants to see cannabis decriminalized, but Mr. Harper 
has ignored their proposal. We cut smoking rates through public 
education, not prohibition.

Mr. Harper also claims that the regulation of cannabis in Colorado, 
and decriminalization of drugs in Portugal, has had disastrous 
results. This is simply not the case. While there was an unsurprising 
increase in the number of individuals of all ages using cannabis 
after legalization in Colorado, the use of other drugs continued to 
decline, tax revenue streamed in and crime rates fell.

Portugal has had incredible results after implementing its drug 
decriminalization program. The use of heroin is down dramatically in 
young people, as are deaths from opiate overdose, a problem currently 
vexing Canada and the United States. Portugal has succeeded because 
they treat drug abuse as a health problem, not simply a criminal 
justice problem.

On the topic of opiates, Mr. Harper is clear in his intention to 
ignore both science and the Supreme Court, and unnecessarily expose 
injection drug users to harm. His plan would effectively block the 
creation of safe injection facilities. In these places, health 
professionals can oversee individuals injecting drugs, provide 
medical help and clean injection equipment and act as a point of 
contact for drug users to engage with social services. Mr. Harper 
paints these facilities as a blight on any neighborhood where they operate.

Safe injection facilities help prevent the spread of communicable 
diseases, save lives, and there is no evidence that they reduce 
public safety. Public health policy should not be guided by rhetoric 
aimed at scaring communities into turning their backs on a vulnerable 
population.

Mr. Harper has also proposed increasing funding to target drug labs. 
Of course we want to remove drug labs that can cause significant harm 
to local communities, but this tactic has not worked in the past, and 
shows no reason that an additional $4.5-million will change the 
outcome. The "War on Drugs" is lost and it is time to take a less 
heroic but smarter stance.

Mr. Harper's proposal would be appropriate if made at the height of 
the drug war, but is not in line with the current best practices and 
scientific evidence we have regarding drug policy. Even the U.S., 
once champion of some of the harshest drug laws, has begun to move 
away from boogeyman-inspired rhetoric about drugs and adopt less 
punitive policies.

It is not easy to admit you're wrong, and even harder to embrace 
populations long stigmatized, but we must take a utilitarian approach 
and do what is right, logical and abundantly positive for us as a 
society. Mr. Harper's plan is none of those things.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom