25 June 2004
PARIS – A Conservative Party victory in Monday’s Canadian Federal election would be a major step backwards for Canadian drug policy, warned ICOS, an international drug policy think-tank.

With the failure of the “war on drugs” approach used to combat drug abuse over the past 40 years, the present Canadian government has developed new policy responses to the complex reality of the use of drugs in Canadian society. In recent years, the Liberal government has begun to implement innovative and alternative policies which have been proven to work in other countries. The Conservative Party position, which is aligned with the US “war on drugs approach” would represent a retrogressive approach.

Examples of the new, more effective initiatives include the implementation of harm reduction measures such as needle exchange and heroin maintenance programmes and the reduction of criminal sanctions for personal drug use. A safe-injection site was opened last September in Vancouver, with support from the Liberal government. Another recent national project called the North American Opiate Maintenance Initiative (NAOMI), funded by Health Canada, plans to provide free, prescription heroin to long-term addicts in Vancouver, Montreal and Canada.

Harm reduction measures have proved to have been effective in certain European countries such as Switzerland, Portugal and Germany. Safe injection sites and other harm reduction programmes in these countries have proved effective in reducing the spread of HIV/AIDS and Hepatitis C, reduced drug-related criminal offences and improved security in the communities in which they have been established.

But despite this evidence, the Conservative Party is against these measures. Langley-Abbotsford Conservative MP Randy White maintains the old argument that programs such as these “place addicts above the law and aggravates addiction to illicit drugs”. He advocates for more outdated programmes, saying that the government should invest in drug treatment programs , which have historically proven to be insufficient in dealing with drug policy issues, and not in to safe-injections sites.

“To continue to ignore the evidence that harm reduction initiatives are an extremely positive development in Canadian drug policy is to blindly push the country in an enormous step backwards,” said Mr Emmanuel Reinert, Executive Director of ICOS. “These polices provide an effective and humane response to the complex reality of the use of drugs in modern society. To roll back these positive initiatives would be a grave error, and a serious step backwards for Canada.”

Numerous international studies have shown that measures such as harm reduction are also extremely cost effective compared with the heavy costs of law enforcement approaches (policing, the criminal justice system and imprisonment).

The Conservative Party do not plan on reintroducing the bill to decriminalize the possession of small amounts of marijuana, something that Paul Martin has promised to do if re-elected. Martin remains committed to passing legislation that would bring fines – not criminal sentences – to people found with 15 grams of Cannabis or less.

“The depenalization and state regulation of drugs such as cannabis is the next logical step in international drug policy and has been undertaken by a number of European countries,” said ICOS. “Government regulation stops the creation of an enormous black market, prevents “offender’s such a teenagers experimenting with drugs from entering the criminal justice system, and prevents the uses police resources which could be used on the more harmful aspects of the drug issue, such as trafficking. Retaining the current policies, which the Conservative Party has said they intend to do, continues the criminalization of children for marijuana use, which is not an appropriate response to teenage experimentation.”

“Those individuals responsible for Conservative Party policy do not appear to be asking themselves whether or not the methods used to combat drug abuse and trafficking over the past 40 years of the drug war are working or not. The repressive, law-enforcement-based “War on Drugs” approach has clearly not been effective, and other solutions should be considered. Within Europe, the general trend is moving towards the development of alternative policies, which have proved to be effective and cost efficient. ”, said ICOS.

“We think it is important to recognise the current government’s drug policy has been an example of a national strategy which has shown real innovation and courage in its policy responses to the drug policy crisis and they should be congratulated”, concluded Mr. Reinert. “This government has shown real leadership and commitment to a proper response to the issues, and moved away from blindly following a failed US policy in this area. “