CANADA NEEDS NAT'L DRUG POLICY

Canada needs a national drug policy that focusses on prevention,
rather than enabling the culture, says former Conservative MP Randy
White.

White, who retired from federal politics to Qualicum Beach, says it's
going to take government conviction and action to make it happen.
Where he comes in, is with the Drug Prevention Network of Canada
(DPNC) -- a national offshoot of similar international organizations
which advocate no use of illegal drugs and no abuse of the legal ones.

"The current government is on the right track," says White, when asked
about the recent move in Ottawa to make taking drugs and driving,
illegal. "I was in the House of Commons as part of a national drug
policy committee when this came up."

The former MP from Abbotsford says there are other countries --
Germany for example -- that have so-called drug driving laws, much
like modern drinking and driving legislation.

"One day, you'll see this come to pass," he says, "if we can only get
past the partisanship of the House. Partisanship often blurs the issues."

White, a founding member and president of DPNC, says using illegal
drugs and getting behind the wheel needs to gain a stigma that equals
that of drinking alcohol and driving -- and the only way to do that is
to have a national policy that educates children and fosters
prevention. Currently, White says the only program that comes close to
being national in scope, is the RCMP's DARE (Drug Abuse Resistance
Education) program. While important, White says DARE does not include
components necessary to prevent illegal drug use, such as
rehabilitation programs and stronger illegal drug enforcement policies
and mandatory sentencing.

Adding to the problem, says White, is government's allowance of
harm-reduction strategies such as Vancouver's supervised injection
site.

"Federally, we are no where close to a prevention strategy," he says,
adding government at times is more apt to spend money on only
short-term programs -- evidence, he says, of government doing good.

His work with DPNC is for long-term results, White says, looking at
prevention, treatment and enforcement as an entire package.

Despite his formal retirement, White remains busy with DPNC, flying
this week to Ottawa for a series of meetings. He is also working with
an international task force on drug prevention for a United Nations
convention in 2008. His move to Qualicum Beach, he says, hasn't slowed
him down and, in fact, have given him a different perspective on his
drug prevention work.

"It's not in front of you all the time here," he says. "There's a
different reality here and it's nice to get the different
perspective."