NEW TORY STRATEGY WILL TAKE TOUGH LINE ON DRUGS

The Harper government's new anti-drug strategy is expected to take a
tough approach to illicit drugs, including cracking down on grow-ops
and pushers and retreating from "harm reduction" measures such as
safe injection sites for addicts.

The new strategy, slated to be announced next week, is also
understood to include more money for treatment and a national
drug-use prevention campaign.

The federal budget last March offered a glimpse of the strategy by
allocating an additional $64 million over two years for enforcement,
treatment, and prevention.

But the budget figures did not mention harm-reduction measures, which
aim to limit the spread of infectious diseases through substance abuse.

"They haven't explicitly said they are getting rid of harm reduction,
but the budget numbers speak for themselves," said Leon Mar,
spokesman for the Canadian HIV-AIDS Legal Network.

"There is no money for harm reduction, which is quite ominous for
what will be."

Joanne Csete, the network's executive director, recently wrote in a
letter to parliamentarians that the Conservatives are contemplating
"a U.S.-style war on drugs, an approach that has proven time and time
again to be counter-productive and a tragic waste of public funds."