FEDERAL DRUG STRATEGY FLAWED, STUDY CONCLUDES

OTTAWA -- A new study published today says roughly three-quarters of
federal spending to fight illegal drugs is going towards unproven and
possibly counterproductive enforcement measures, while an
insignificant amount is being spent on potentially more effective
"harm-reduction" measures.

The study was produced by the B.C. Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS,
an agency partly funded by the B.C. government, that is fighting a
fierce battle with Prime Minister Stephen Harper's government over the
future of Canada's only supervised injection site for addicts in
downtown Vancouver.

"While the stated goal of Canada's drug strategy is to reduce harm,
evidence obtained through this analysis indicates that the
overwhelming emphasis continues to be on conventional
enforcement-based approaches which are costly and often exacerbate,
rather than reduce, harms," states the report in HIV/AIDS Policy and
Law Review, a publication funded partly by the Public Health Agency of
Canada and the American Bar Association.

Meanwhile, federal funding to deal with health issues such as rampant
HIV infection rates among addicts is "insignificant," the study notes.

"This stands in stark contrast to recent comments made by various
stakeholders suggesting that there has been an over-investment in
harm-reduction programming."

The comment was in direct reference to a statement by the Canadian
Police Association (CPA) on the same day, Sept. 1, 2006, that federal
Health Minister Tony Clement questioned preliminary research
suggesting Vancouver's supervised injection site for drug addicts is
effective.

Clement issued a news release raising doubts about Vancouver's
supervised injection site, called Insite, while announcing that he
would extend the facility's licence only until the end of 2007 pending
further review. Health Canada bureaucrats had supported a 31/2-year
extension.

The CPA, meeting the same day in Victoria, publicly condemned
so-called harm reduction measures. The CPA, a national organization
for rank-and-file Canadian police officers, has emerged as a strong
supporter of the Harper government's tough approach to crime.

The study says the proportion of federal spending on enforcement has
dropped from 95 per cent in 2001 to the most recent figure, 73 per
cent, after the former Liberal government -- responding to criticism
from the federal auditor-general and other critics that Canada's drug
strategy was unco-ordinated and ineffective -- began emphasizing
alternative anti-drug strategies such as harm reduction.

The authors, who object to Ottawa's plans to develop a new national
drug strategy with greater focus on enforcement, say Ottawa is putting
extraordinary demands on Insite to prove its positive impact. This
pressure continues even though preliminary research indicates the
Vancouver facility results in more addicts seeking treatment and fewer
sharing needles.