THE WAR ON DRUGS NEEDS A TACTICAL SHOT IN THE ARM

The war on drugs makes many casualties. Most who are wounded or die suffer
their fate in anonymity. An exception: Constable Barry Schneider of the RCMP.

When he died at home in Courtenay, B.C., on Nov. 29, it was first assumed
that he died of a heart attack. He was considered a model citizen and more
than 500 people attended his funeral. Then, last week, it was revealed that
he died of a heroin overdose, and had traces of cocaine in his system.

Suddenly, Constable Schneider's death was national news. He was not only a
Mountie, but the local program co-ordinator for Drug Abuse Resistance
Education. His work was to warn the community, and young people in
particular, of the dangers of illicit drugs.

This was a man-bites-drug-sniffing-dog story, sensational and ephemeral.
More important in the long run is what it tells us about the war on drugs.

Constable Schneider should never have died of a heroin overdose. He didn't
intend to commit suicide. But, because heroin possession and consumption is
illegal, the only heroin available comes from the black market, and it is
of unknown strength. It's like the alcohol available in the United States
during Prohibition: It could be strong or watered down, contain impurities
or even poisons such as rubbing alcohol. Let the buyer beware.

Constable Schneider could not know how much pure heroin he was consuming
because the law prohibiting heroin leaves its production, distribution and
consumption totally unregulated. Many, many people have died of poisoning
as a result.

On Oct. 16 last, Tory Senator Pierre-Claude Nolin presided over the first
public hearings of the Special Senate Committee on Illegal Drugs. Because
the federal elections were then called, the committee was dissolved and no
further hearings were held. But, on that first day, expert witnesses
conveyed important information.

"Ordinarily, heroin does not kill. It addicts people and makes them
constipated," said Line Beauchesne, associate professor in the University
of Ottawa's Department of Criminology. "But people overdose because they
don't know what they are getting; they don't know if the heroin is 4 per
cent or 40 per cent, or if it is cut with bad stuff, or if it is heroin at
all -- it may be a synthetic opiate or an amphetamine-type substance."

Prof. Beauchesne is one of many experts whose research has convinced them
that the attempt to prohibit some psychotropic drugs has had perverse
effects that are more damaging than the drugs themselves. "There can be no
doubt that the cure is not only ineffective against the disease, but that,
to use a familiar metaphor, its effects are worse than the disease itself,"
she told the senators. "Simply stated, drugs are more dangerous because
they are illegal."

Other damning testimony was given by Eugene Oscapella, executive director
of the Canadian Foundation for Drug Policy.

"It is hard to imagine policies better suited to generating and
perpetuating violence, corruption, organized crime, destruction of civil
liberties, needless death, misery and social dysfunction than the
prohibitionist schemes that Canada's policy makers and Parliamentarians
have promoted for the last 90 years."

There is a different method that has now been accepted by most experts:
It's called "public-health approaches" centered on "harm reduction."

"Public-health approaches still resort to legal regulation, but for
enforcing standards of safety and minimizing harm while allowing some level
of activity to occur," says Patricia Erickson, senior scientist with
Toronto's Centre for Addiction and Mental Health.

A new Parliament could achieve what every previous Parliament failed to do:
bring Canada's drug laws out of the dark ages.

Senator Nolin had a good idea in calling for public hearings to enlighten
the public. But what's really needed is a joint Commons-Senate committee
that includes members from all parties, especially the Canadian Alliance.

Such a committee, with the members voting their consciences, could set a
standard for enlightenment and help restore Canadians' confidence in their
Parliament.