PROF EDUCATING HARPER WITH WEEKLY READINGS

Uvic Researcher Launches Website And Will Send Prime Minister 52
Reports On Drug Addiction This Year

UVic professor Susan Boyd is hoping to capture the attention of Prime
Minister Stephen Harper by launching a website, www.educatingharper.com.

Boyd, a drug policy researcher, launched the website on Feb. 1. The
website is about drug policy and contains research that Boyd is
sending to Harper - one document per week.

"I am curious about what Stephen Harper reads. That's in essence part
of the reason I decided to do the website and send him an article
every week," said Boyd, who is in Vancouver on sabbatical, doing
research. "I don't think his advisers are bringing him the wonderful
array of research and articles that have been written about these issues."

The Conservative party's drug strategy is misguided, Boyd said. She
believes harm reduction, rather than stiffer penalties for drug
traffickers, is the way to go.

"It's really difficult to keep harm reduction programs running when
prohibition is the national drug policy," she said. "In fact, much of
the harms that we associate with illegal drug use are actually caused
by, or linked to, prohibition.

"[Take] the drug trade, for instance. Violence associated with the
drug trade, high black market prices, adulterated prices, drug
overdoes - all of those things are related to drug prohibition."

Boyd said harm reduction can take a variety of approaches, including
drug education, safe injection programs and detox clinics.

"Problematic drug use is really a symptom of other issues," she said.

More than 78 per cent of federal drug funding goes toward criminal
justice initiatives, while only three per cent was allocate to harm
reduction, Boyd said, adding that the Conservative government has
since made cuts to harm re-duction funding.

"It's interesting to me that this tiny little amount could be so
controversial to this government."

Boyd got the idea for her campaign from Life of Pi author Yann
Martel, who has been sending Harper a book every two weeks to draw
attention to the lack of funding for Canadian arts and culture.

"I was sitting here one evening, and I think it was after I read
something about the new crime bill that was being proposed, and I
went to the computer and thought I'll write a letter of protest," she said.

"And then I thought, why add to my thick file of letters that outline
my discontent with drug policy?"

The website includes the 52 documents that Boyd is sending Harper.
More than 20 articles are from peer-reviewed journals. Boyd said the
research is clear about the effectiveness of harm reduction.

"Certainly, [the Conservatives] are not basing their decisions on the
research that's available, and that's a little bit frightening for
Canadians themselves and researchers in the field, because when
you're basing policy out of ideology, it's not necessarily for the
common good," Boyd said. "I don't see any evidence that harsher laws
or continuing prohibition makes society safer or healthier."

So far, there's been no word back from the Prime Minister or health
minister Tony Clement, whom she also sent letters to.

"I expect I might get a form letter, because in the past when I've
written - not just Stephen Harper but other prime ministers - about
drug policy issues that have come up, I've occasionally received a
form letter," said Boyd.

However, she's optimistic that the Prime Minister will read the
material she sends him, even if he doesn't write back.

If he doesn't, Boyd said the project won't be for nothing.

"If it turns out that he doesn't [read the material I send him], I
feel that it has a usefulness for other concerned people who live in
Canada who want to learn about harm reduction and drug policy," Boyd said.

Visit Boyd's website, www.educatingharper.com , for descriptions of
each week's readings that she sends to Harper, and a link to the
Prime Minister's e-mail, as well as a form letter concerned citizens
can send him.