HOWARD SOCIETY SAYS PROHIBITION POLICIES DON'T WORK

Craig Jones, the executive director of the John Howard Society, told
chamber members Wednesday that jail sentences aren't the answer for
solving drug abuse crime.

If Portugal can decriminalize drugs altogether, Canada's Conservative
government can back off the recent surge of punitive measures
including the push for mandatory jail terms in drug cases.

This was the message John Howard Society executive director Craig
Jones delivered to the Kelowna Chamber of Commerce this week.

"Government needs to hear from the grassroots there is a connection
between crime and policy," said Jones, who traveled from Kingston,
Ontario to make the speech.

With one in four prisoners around the world locked in a U.S. prison,
Jones told his audience the pro-punishment path the U.S. so doggedly
pursues leaves a road map for researchers to prove punishment and
prohibition will not solve drug crime.

Not only do mandatory sentences fail to deter drug use, the concept
actually increases violence, ensures property crime escalates and
ensures only the lowest level offenders pay the price for a situation
that's largely out of their control.

He argues drug use and chronic offender status go hand-in-hand with
mental illness and a history of mental and physical abuse.

Current government policy, therefore, ensures the wrong people pay
for drug crime and that the cost of this form of crime remains
extremely high for society in general.

"Organized crime is a feature of modern life, but it does not have to
be as powerful as it is," Jones said, pointing to the 7,000 people
who have died in the Mexican drug war and, to a smaller scale, the
casualties in Vancouver, to prove his point.

Taking a friendly jab at Conservative values, Jones even made
reference to the story of Adam and Eve as he made an argument for
decriminalization.

"The outcome of that story should have tipped off policy-makers that
prohibition does not work," he said to a chuckle from his audience.

Portugal has decriminalized drug use, ensuring it still remains
illegal, but treating offenses as an "administrative" rather than
criminal matter.

The country was experiencing crisis level numbers of heroine overdose
deaths when the decision was made.