Pubdate: Thu, 24 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: Tim Simboli Page: A11 Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v17/n270/a07.html PUNISHING DRUG USE ISN'T THE BEST STRATEGY Re: Decriminalizing drugs no fix for opioid crisis, Aug. 18 I read with disbelief Mohammed Adam's article and am struggling to understand the mindset that dismisses evidence as "cherry-picked." I suspect it's based in the belief that punishment works. Yet, evidence has been collected over the decades to show that at a basic behavioural level, punishment is an ineffective long-term strategy. We have proceeded with a war on drugs because there's a belief that we can scare people sober. What the evidence shows is that it makes no more sense to punish an addict than it does to punish a person with a heart condition so they will not have heart attacks. It would be a far, far wiser use of scarce resources to take what we currently spend enforcing, punishing and trying to stem the problem and instead apply them to identification, education, treatment and support. We must take a critical view of the system and address the best points of intervention - such as the pharmaceutical and medical over-prescribing of these drugs. Simplistic answers will not work. The war on drugs has been waged for 50 years or more and it's being lost. Let's look at something new that has been shown to work in several jurisdictions. Tim Simboli, PhD, executive director, Canadian Mental Health Association, Ottawa Branch - --- MAP posted-by: Matt