OTTAWA WORKING 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 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."

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 spokesman 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.

"Obviously, ministers interact with their counterparts
internationally. Americans are important counterparts especially when
it comes to drug crime,"he said. "Drugs are one of the prime
motivators for crime, particularly 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."

New Democratic Party MP Libby Davies, whose Vancouver East riding
includes the supervised injection facility, said the Harper
government appears to be "taking orders"from the American drug czar
and other top officials of the Bush administration.

"We have made-in-Canada policies that are working,"she said. "Why
isn't [Harper] looking to Europe and the successes they've had there?"