A new drug strategy needed
Prominent public health experts are warning the federal government that its way of battling illicit drugs is fundamentally wrong. They recommend abandoning an irrational criminal justice approach based mainly on ideology and emotion. Rather than pointlessly locking up more drug abusers, they want Ottawa to turn to “harm reduction” policies scientifically grounded in what works.
Imagine that — setting policy based on results and evidence! This makes eminent sense. But the sad fact is that Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s government is unlikely to listen. After all, what do scientific outcomes matter if they contradict the hard right’s visceral desire to “get tough” on crime?
The chief medical officers of British Columbia, Nova Scotia and Saskatchewan are nonetheless right to highlight Ottawa’s failed illicit drug policies in a remarkable commentary published in the journal Open Medicine this past week.
Dr. Perry Kendall of B.C., Dr. Robert Strang in Nova Scotia, and Saskatchewan’s Dr. Moira Mckinnon are not alone. Concern over harm done in a futile “war on drugs” — including billions of wasted tax dollars — has also been expressed by the Canadian Public Health Association and the Urban Public Health Network, representing medical officers of health in Canada’s 18 largest cities.
“Criminalization of people who use drugs continues to prove ineffective,” noted authors of the commentary, which also included Dr. Evan Wood at the University of British Columbia. The United States has spent an estimated $1 trillion since former president Richard Nixon declared his war on drugs, yet the price of marijuana and cocaine has dropped while potency has soared.
A recent World Health Organization study convincingly shows that drug abuse rates are unrelated to the strictness of law enforcement. In light of that, it’s better to regard drug addiction more as a health issue than a criminal matter. The study’s authors noted that Portugal decriminalized all drug use in 2001 and has seen no increase in drug-related problems. On the contrary, there was measurably lower harm, including less crowding in courts and jails. The rate of drug use in Portugal remains among the lowest in the European Union.
There’s more benefit found in needle exchange centres, methadone maintenance programs and other harm reduction policies than in having police crack down on drug addicts. And, according to authors of the report, there should be at least some discussion of regulating the sale of cannabis rather than prohibiting it.
The Harper government, however, is intent on going in the opposite direction — especially with its strict new policy requiring mandatory minimum sentences for certain drug law violations. This refusal to follow the evidence must not discourage public health officials and all concerned Canadians from speaking out. Indeed, this country’s hopelessly wrong approach on illicit drugs will be reversed only through more commentaries, scientific studies and informed public pressure.