DRUG STRATEGY WORRIES CRITICS

(CanWest News Service) - The federal government's new anti-drug
strategy is not winning many friends in Quebec, which arguably has
the most liberal attitude to recreational drug use in the country.

The plan, announced Thursday, commits $64 million, two-thirds of
which will be spent on treatment and prevention programs, the rest on
beefing up drug law enforcement.

Raymond Berger worries that a crackdown on drugs will mean problems
for Montreal's Compassion Club, where he buys marijuana each week to
help him deal with the effects of his chemotherapy and AIDS
treatments. The club does not have a licence to sell medical marijuana.

Club director Marc-Boris St. Maurice believes the get-tough approach
will backfire. "If you treat drug users as criminals you are pushing
people away from society, you are alienating them with that criminal
label ... that is not the way you are going to help them," he said.

Louise Nadeau, who works at one of the largest public addiction
treatment facilities in Montreal, said the extra money is vital.