CANADA'S DRUG POLICY SADLY OUTDATED

To the Editor,

Re: Drug roundup a welcome sight, Editorial, Aug. 15.

Your editorial tip of the hat to the RCMP for rounding up drug
dealers in Nanaimo is a sad endorsement for demonstrably failed public policy.

For the past 100 years, we've primarily taken a criminal justice
approach to addressing the reality of human drug use.

The results? Greater availability of illegal drugs (especially to
youth), profligate spending on police, courts, and prisons,
widespread organized crime in the illegal drug trade, and
destabilized political regimes in countries such as Colombia and Afghanistan.

The failure of the U.S.-led "war on (some) drugs" shows most clearly
how supply-side interventions such as dealer crackdowns do nothing to
address the harms from drug use.

The efforts of the RCMP to rid Nanaimo of illegal drugs will come to naught.

It's time to reject the failed policies of prohibition and follow the
advice of the Health Officers Council of B.C. in taking a public
health approach to drugs: regulate, tax and control.

Kenneth Tupper,

Vancouver