EDITORIAL ON DOWNTOWN POLICING HIT THE MARK

To the Editor,

Re: Private police no solution, Editorial, May 30.

Your May 30 editorial was right on target. Adding more addiction
services will do more to address downtown problems than moving
open-air drug markets from one neighbourhood to the next.

Attempts to limit the supply of illegal drugs while demand remains
constant only increase the profitability of trafficking. For addictive
drugs like heroin, a spike in street prices leads desperate addicts to
increase criminal activity to feed desperate habits.

The drug war doesn't fight crime, it fuels crime.

The good news is that Canada has already adopted many of the common
sense harm reduction interventions first pioneered in Europe. The bad
news is that Canada's southern neighbour continues to use its
superpower status to export a dangerous moral crusade around the globe.

The United States provides tragic examples of anti-drug strategies
that are best avoided.

U.S. Centers for Disease Control researchers estimate that 57 per cent
of AIDS cases among women and 36 per cent of overall AIDS cases in the
U.S. are linked to injection drug use or sex with partners who inject
drugs. This easily preventable public health crisis is a direct result
of zero tolerance laws that restrict access to clean syringes.

Can Canada afford to emulate the harm maximization drug policies of
the former land of the free and current record holder in citizens
incarcerated?

Robert Sharpe,

policy analyst,

Common Sense for Drug Policy,

Washington, DC