PAPERS SHOW U.S. INPUT INTO CANADIAN DRUG POLICY

National Strategy Will Be Modelled On Tough U.S. Approach

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 since then 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.

"The meeting was postponed for scheduling reasons. It's anticipated
the meeting will take place early in the new year," said Rodney Moore,
a spokesman for Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada.

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."