Pubdate: Tue, 15 Aug 2017
Source: Ottawa Citizen (CN ON)
Copyright: 2017 Postmedia Network Inc.
Contact:  http://www.ottawacitizen.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/326
Author: Michael Spratt
Page: A9

CANADA SHOULD DECRIMINALIZE ALL DRUGS

Jailing addicts does nothing to stop substance abuse, says Michael
Spratt.

Last week, Ottawa's medical officer of health, Dr. Isra Levy, pledged
Ottawa Public Health's support for "new evidence-based approaches" to
combat the problems caused by illegal drugs including - wait for it -
decriminalization.

City Coun. Mathieu Fleury said, "It's a crazy thought, but it's a
crazy thought that might actually have some merit."

Fleury should be commended. Where Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson had cast off
the shackles of evidence-based thinking to stand against the city's
first safe consumption site, Fleury's open mindedness is a breath of
fresh air.

But Fleury is wrong on one point. Decriminalization of all drugs is
not a crazy idea at all. If you care about saving lives, if you care
about ending the cycle of addiction, if you care about keeping our
communities safe, if you care about fiscal responsibility, or even if
you only care about cracking down on crime - decriminalization makes
sense.

But first let's look at our current drug policy: criminalization.

There is no need to engage in an exhaustive review of the history of
Canadian drug policy. One need not trace the lineage of the 1908 Opium
Act through to modern-day mandatory minimum drug sentences to conclude
that the criminalization of narcotics has failed to eliminate drugs.
The spoils of the tough-on-crime drug war are laid bare on our streets
and in our jails.

Sadly, the war on drugs has also done nothing to eliminate the
disastrous harms associated with narcotics. In 2011, the Supreme Court
of Canada considered a subset of these harms, those associated with
injectable drug use, in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside.

A survey of approximately 1,000 intravenous drug users demonstrated
the ills associated with drug use. On average, the surveyed users had
been addicted to injectable drugs for 15 years. Eighty-seven per cent
were infected with hepatitis C virus (HCV) and 17 per cent with human
immunodeficiency virus (HIV). Twenty per cent were homeless, 80 per
cent had been incarcerated, 38 per cent were involved in the sex
trade, and 59 per cent reported a non-fatal overdose in their
lifetime. Of course, those who had died due to overdose were not
captured by the survey's conclusions.

So, the war on drugs has not eliminated narcotics. It has not reduced
the amount of drug crime. It has not reduced the harms that drugs
inflict on our society.

In other words, the world's so-called war on drugs has been a complete
and abject failure.

Canada has a drug problem, but it is a problem of policy. Canadian
politicians are still waging an outdated war.

Decriminalization is a simple idea. Simply put: We should not arrest
and jail addicts; we should instead focus the criminal law on
importers and traffickers.

>From a public health perspective, criminalization of addiction drives
drug users into the shadows of back allies - further from treatment
programs.

Last year almost 2,500 Canadians died from opioid-related overdoses.
Criminalization does nothing to deter drug use, it is an ineffective
way to rehabilitate addicts, and it does nothing to save lives.

 From a financial perspective, criminalization is damn expensive. It
can cost more than $600 a day to incarcerate an addict and that's
before policing and justice system expenses are accounted for. Harm
reduction, treatment and prevention cost less and do more good.

And what if you are "tough on crime"? Let's leave aside the
disingenuous notion that addicts are criminals. After all, they are
only criminals because we say they are. Decriminalization allows
police resources to be focused on the criminal organizations that
import and sell drugs. Criminal laws do nothing to deter addiction so
it only makes sense to focus criminal law where it can actually make a
difference.

The history of the criminalization of addiction has been a policy that
has disproportionately affected poor and racialized communities. It
has done nothing to stop drug use. It has resulted in death and public
health catastrophes. It diverts resources away from tackling organized
crime. And all of this without any corresponding benefit.

Decriminalization is not a crazy idea. But it is crazy that more
politicians - such as Mayor Watson - don't publicly support it.

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Michael Spratt is a partner at the Ottawa firm Abergel Goldstein & 
Partners and an award-winning blogger and podcaster.
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