A Canadian on Politics

Criminalizing the use of marijuana and other tough on crime approaches haven’t worked, say public health doctors from across Canada who propose taxation and regulation instead.

The chief medical health officers in British Columbia, Nova Scotia and Saskatchewan wrote a paper reviewing the evidence on Canada’s current illicit drug policies in Wednesday’s issue of the journal Open Medicine.

The paper comes as the federal government is set to table its budget amid funding questions for its new anti-crime legislation, which includes mandatory minimum sentences for minor drug offences.

Looking at illegal drugs solely based on a criminal justice approach has failed, said Dr. Robert Strang, Nova Scotia’s chief medical health officer, a co-author of the paper.

“For the last decade, Portugal has decriminalized all drug use and they have some of the lowest rates of drug use in Europe and they have some of the least amounts of harm from drug use,” Strang said.

In contrast, drug use hasn’t decreased since the $1-trillion US “war on drugs” was declared and aggressive drug law enforcement began.

Seriously, people.  All we do when we criminalize drugs is make more criminals.  Addiction requires support and healthcare, not jail time.  And given that no one actually knows WHY we criminalized marijuana (seriously - there was no debate in the house over it and no explanation why it was added in) and opiates were originally criminalized due to racism against the Chinese, and finally that, oh yeah, THIS IS NOT WORKING ANYWHERE, maybe we should rethink this criminalization strategy.

Vancouver’s controversial Insite clinic can stay open, the Supreme Court said Friday in a landmark ruling.

In a unanimous decision, the court ruled that not allowing the clinic to operate under an exemption from drug laws would be a violation of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

The court ordered the federal minister of health to grant an immediate exemption to allow Insite to operate.

“Insite saves lives. Its benefits have been proven. There has been no discernable negative impact on the public safety and health objectives of Canada during its eight years of operation,” the ruling said, written by chief justice Beverly McLachlin.

The court ruled that withdrawing the exemption undermines the purpose of federal drug laws, which include public health and safety.

The long-running court battle between the federal government and Insite supporters was based on the clinic’s claim — supported by two lower court rulings — that it should be allowed to operate exempt from federal drug laws.

[…]

The health authority also says on its website that there have been more than 1,400 overdoses at Insite and that medical staff was able to intervene successfully in all cases.

A study published in the British medical journal The Lancet found that overdose deaths had declined by 35 per cent in the area of Insite, on Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside, since the clinic had opened, compared to a nine per cent drop in overdoses city-wide.

The B.C. Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS has said that since Insite opened, there’s been a 30 per cent increase in the number of addicts who enter detox.

Other Canadian cities, such as Victoria and Toronto, have said they want to open their own safe-injection clinics, modelled on Insite.

Lawyers for the federal ministry have argued that the government should not be in the business of facilitating illegal drug use.

Tony Clement, the former Conservative minister of health, said that so-called harm reduction programs like those provided by Insite divert money from drug treatment programs.

Further information for those who want it! Bolded one line for emphasis to support my current appreciation for the Supreme Court.

OTTAWA — The RCMP has launched a website listing the addresses of where marijuana grow-ops were found.

The National Grow Initiative is an RCMP-led project launched Wednesday in Ottawa that will focus on enforcement, deterrence and awareness as part of the National Anti-Drug Strategy.

Categorized by provinces, the website lists the addresses of homes, outbuildings and businesses where search warrants were executed. It also lists when the busts were made and how many marijuana plants were found. Clandestine drug labs are also included in the database.

The addresses will remain on the RCMP website for a period of one year.

“Marijuana grow operations harm communities. [show me your research - Mei] Wherever they exist, there’s the potential for an increase in criminal activity and a greater chance of fire, explosions and violence,” said RCMP Assistant Commissioner Mike Cabana.

British Columbia leads the list with the most grow-ops discovered, with several dozen locations listed, mainly in the Surrey area. A property in Hope, B.C., displayed on the website, was said to have had 6,496 marijuana plants found on it in June.

“(Marijuana) grow operations pose a serious threat to Canadians [Research!!! SHOW! - Mei], the safety of our communities and the law enforcement officers fighting against these illegal operations,” said Conservative MP Shelly Glover, in a news release on behalf of Vic Toews, the public safety minister. “The government of Canada is taking action to combat illicit (marijuana) cultivation in Canada, as well (as) the organized crime elements behind it.”

Marijuana, it should be noted, was added to the list of prohibited drugs in the Opium and Narcotic Drug Act in 1923 - without any debate about it in the House of Commons, and before it was a social issue in Canada.  First offences were not charged until nearly a decade later, and first convictions were fourteen years later.

There was no evidence of any scientific knowledge being presented about the negative affects of marijuana.

The Opium act itself, originally enacted in 1908 (thanks, MacKenzie King!) was largely spurred by racism/classism against the Chinese, who were “opium smokers”, while the white middle class were able to keep using their prescribed drugs from their doctors without the breakdown of Life as We Know It.

In short: our drug laws are not as black and white as many in law enforcement would like us to believe.

Sources: Stephen Hester and Peter Elgin, A Sociology of Crime (ISBN: 978-0-415-07370) & Giffen, Endicott and Lambert, Panic and Indifference: The Politics of Canada’s Drug Laws (ISBN 0-9695468-0-7)