DRUG USERS ARE THE SAME: LIBERAL MP

Criminal drug users should be treated no differently from legal drug
users, says the Liberal MP who chaired the House of Commons special
committee on non-medicinal drug use.

Paddy Torsney says Canadians have a moral obligation to help people
addicted to illegal drugs, even though the law makes them criminals.

"The moral issue occurs when people are in need of treatment and are
unable to find treatment. It occurs when we discriminate between
people who use legal substances versus those who use illegal
substances, and somehow don't get them the help that they need. And it
occurs when we allow people to get other diseases by virtue of the
choice of drugs that they're using and we don't do anything to stop
that," Ms. Torsney said at a press conference, where she released the
committee's report, yesterday.

However, Ms. Torsney said it is not possible to legalize possession of
drugs such as cocaine, heroin and LSD, because international treaties
prohibit it, and Canadian society isn't ready.

"We're dealing in realities here," Ms. Torsney said.

In perhaps its most contentious recommendation, the report proposes
establishing sites where addicts can inject illegal drugs under the
supervision of medical professionals. A supervised-injection site
would be a sort of clinic where addicts, who buy their drugs illegally
from street dealers, could go to inject.

The federal government has already approved pilot projects for such
sites, which proponents advocate as a means to prevent fatal overdoses
and to bring people living on society's margins into contact with
professionals who can help them.

Bloc Quebecois committee member Real Menard said injection sites are
part of the philosophy of harm reduction.

"What we have to ask ourselves is: How do we rearrange all of this so
that, in an ideal world, people use less, but if they do use, there is
the smallest possible amount of damage," he said.

NDP committee member Libby Davies, whose riding includes Vancouver's
drug-ridden Downtown Eastside, agreed "the establishment of
safe-consumption sites are urgently needed."

But Canadian Alliance committee member Kevin Sorenson argued harm
reduction is essentially capitulation, and the only stance to take on
illegal drug use is to promote abstinence.

"If we're going to start breaking the Criminal Code to allow
substances that every police organization in this country wants to
prevent, then I think we're making the wrong movement," he said.

Establishing supervised-injection sites could pose some legal
difficulties, the committee report admitted. Some provisions in
Canada's drug laws might have to be changed to make sure nurses or
social workers who work in such facilities would not be breaking any
laws.

However, since the addicts would still be breaking the laws by
possessing illegal narcotics, it was unclear how police could be
persuaded, or required, not to enforce the law in or around the
sanctioned injection sites.

Ms. Torsney did not appear baffled by the apparent contradiction of
the state declaring an activity illegal, yet providing a facility for
it to take place.

"Substance use, whether legal or illegal, needs to be addressed in the
same manner," she said.

However, Mike Boyd, deputy chief of the Toronto Police and chair of
the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police drug abuse committee,
said police at this point can't guarantee they won't enforce
possession laws in and around supervised-injection sites.

"Not presently, no," Mr. Boyd said, when posed the question. "There
are different ways the local police could deal with it ... That's the
concern around the legal framework."

He pointed out drug addicts frequently rob other people to get the
money to feed their addictions, and police must also protect those
innocent victims.

The report also recommends that the federal government should start an
anti-drug media campaign and should spend more money on education,
treatment and rehabilitation, though it does not say how much money
would be needed. It proposes Parliament appoint a commissioner to
monitor government anti-drug programs and report on their success or
failure.