GOV'T CONSULTS WITH U.S. ON DRUG STRATEGY

OTTAWA -- Conservative ministers and their aides are consulting with
"keen" U.S. government officials on a new national drug strategy,
according to internal documents obtained by the Vancouver Sun.

"There have been various senior-level meetings between U.S. officials
and ministers/minister's offices," states a summary of a June 16,
2006, meeting on the Tory drug initiative involving top federal
bureaucrats at nine federal departments and agencies.

"U.S. officials have been keen to discuss drug issues with the current
government."

Prime Minister Stephen Harper's 2006 election platform promised a new
drug strategy that would include a national youth awareness strategy.
Harper also called for mandatory minimum sentences and large fines for
serious drug offenders, including marijuana grow operators and
"producers and dealers of crystal meth and crack."

The Tory government has come under criticism for taking a tough
U.S.-style approach to drug crime while downplaying the so-called
"harm reduction" approach that led to the 2003 establishment of a
supervised injection site for Vancouver's drug addicts.

The five-page summary, obtained through the Access to Information Act,
noted U.S. "drug czar" John Walters -- a frequent critic of Canadian
drug policy under the previous Liberal government -- was planning to
visit Canada this autumn but the meeting was postponed for scheduling
reasons.

The national drug strategy will be launched in the fall or winter, the
documents note, after which Foreign Affairs and International Trade
Canada "will need to do outreach with the U.S. and our like-minded
countries."

The strategy will focus on "a few key priority areas that the current
government could focus and build on, such as "clandestine labs,
marijuana grow operations, (and) synthetic drugs," the document
states. "Another key element of the proposed national strategy is the
national awareness campaign for youth."

The document also cites government plans to toughen laws for
drug-impaired driving. Justice Minister Vic Toews tabled legislation
on that matter last month.

Mike Storeshaw, a spokesperson for Toews, said he couldn't speculate
on when the strategy will be announced.

Storeshaw said the Canada-U.S. meetings make sense given the concerns
shared by both countries about cross-border crime.

Neil Boyd, a criminologist at Simon Fraser University, said U.S.
interest in Canada's tougher drug plans is no surprise.

"The Harper government favours a U.S.-style approach to drug problems,
which is to lock more people up and don't treat it as a health
problem, treat it as a criminal law problem of morality," Boyd said.
"That's very much at odds with what's going on in Europe and there's
really no good evidence to suggest that it's going to be terribly useful."