GOVERNMENT LINKS TO US ANTI-DRUG CAMPAIGN

New Health Canada Website Leads To American Equivalents.

Questions are being raised after Health Canada's new anti-drug website
for youth included links to a similar campaign being run in the US.
Health Canada says it had no choice but to link to several American
sources on its new youth anti-drug website as no applicable Canadian
sources existed. However, others see it as the government moving
Canadian policy more in line with its southern neighbour.

Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq announced the new "youth component" of
the government's National Anti-Drug Strategy on Dec. 15. The campaign
centers on a website hosted by Health Canada called not4me.ca, which
includes links to a campaign run by the White House's Office of
National Drug Control Policy, as well as interactive graphics from
MSNBC and the University of Utah.

Health Canada spokesman Gary Scott Holub said the move was not an
endorsement of American anti-drug strategies. Rather, he said linking
to these websites was necessary after a fruitless search for Canadian
resources.

"When initially searching for web interactive tools and programs to
feature in this section, no Canadian resources were found," said Mr.
Holub. He refused to comment on the merits of the US strategy,
pointing to the Health Canada website's disclaimer that it is not
responsible for external content.

Mr. Holub suggested several branches of the department were involved
in the website's implementation-including external affairs, public
relations, marketing and the controlled substances bureau-and that
this made it difficult to pinpoint who made the decision to link to
US-based anti-drug material.

"There's a marketing aspect to this campaign as well as a scientific
aspect. Different directorates and bureaus within our department [are
involved]. It's rather large," said Mr. Holub.

One expert, however, sees the links as a telltale sign the government
is attempting to beef up the credibility of its national anti-drug
campaign in order to resonate with voters who approve of the
traditionally American war on drugs.

"Our anti-drug policy has become more propagandistic than the previous
one under the Liberals, and it's become more punitive," said
University of Ottawa drug policy professor Eugene Oscapella. "It's
about ideology, it's about what policies we can bring in, to go ahead
and get votes."

Mr. Oscapella, a founding member of the reform group Canadian
Foundation For Drug Policy, noted the shift is "ironic" considering
the Obama administration's approach to drug policy differs
significantly from the Bush administration's zero-tolerance approach.

The US Justice Department announced in October 2009 that it will no
longer prosecute those who use and distribute medical marijuana in 14
US states that allow this practice. US Attorney General Eric Holder
suggested in a memo to these states the department would prefer to use
its resources for other purposes.

The Obama administration has also announced support for
government-funded needle exchanges and other techniques that fall
under the rubric of harm reduction.

"For years, the excuse Canadians used for not making our drug policies
less punitive was that the Americans wouldn't allow us. Now there's
quite strong evidence that the United States is beginning to moderate
its stance on drug policy," Mr. Oscapella said. "Obama himself
admitted that he used cocaine and marijuana as a youth. He's declared
the war on drugs to be an utter failure when he was a Senator a number
of years ago."

Ms. Aglukkaq announced the campaign at Ottawa's Mother Teresa High
School, alongside Conservative MP Pierre Poilievre, the prime
minister's parliamentary secretary. Neither was available for comment.

NDP Substance Abuse critic Libby Davies called the Health Canada
website "very disappointing" and suggested that the department has
been influenced by the government's "ideology about drug use."

"I really do believe that that political message has gone down the
line to whatever bureaucrats who work on these things, and what gets
transmitted on these websites," Ms. Davies said. Instead, she said she
would prefer the funds for the website be spent on community outreach
initiatives.

"Maybe there'd be some use for a website if it were linked to other
community-based resources, as part of a program in a local community,"
Ms. Davies said.

"But to have a page on Health Canada, and to have it so dull, and
boring, and bureaucratic, and just not based on reality of what young
people are facing, I think it's a waste."

In addition to increasing illicit drug use media awareness campaigns,
the Conservative government spent all last year trying push Bill C-15,
which would have amended the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act to
force mandatory minimums for some drug crimes, through Parliament.

Mr. Oscapella appeared in front of both the House Committee on Justice
and Human Rights in May, and the Senate Committee on Legal and
Constitutional Affairs in November, to speak to the bill.

Although the bill made it through the entire legislative process,
passing Third Reading in the Senate on Dec. 14, it did not receive
Royal Assent before the government prorogued Parliament, and thus
became extinct. It will have to be reintroduced in the next
parliamentary session. C-15 was actually the reintroduction of a 2007
bill that met the same fate.