CANADA'S DRUG POLICY HEADED IN RIGHT DIRECTION: U.S. PROSECUTOR

Canada should not emulate U.S. drug policies, outspoken New York
state prosecutor David Soares said in Vancouver yesterday.

"My advice to Canada is stay as completely far away from U.S. drug
law policy as possible," said Soares, the district attorney for
Albany County in the state of New York. "You [Canada] are headed in
the right direction."

In a scathing condemnation of the U.S. war on drugs, Soares said
lawmakers, judges and prosecutors know their system is ineffective.
But they support it because it provides law-enforcement officials
with lucrative jobs.

The vast majority of people incarcerated for drug offences in the
U.S. are young African-American and Hispanic men, he said after a
speech at the 17th International Conference on the Reduction of
Drug-Related Harm.

Harm reduction essentially recognizes that drug use won't be
eliminated and tries to reduce negative consequences.

Brazilian Dr. Pedro Chequer, the former UN joint head of the South
American HIV/AIDS program, warned about the "fundamentalist" strings
written into the contracts of U.S. aid. He accused the U.S. of
denying aid to non-conservative social programs, especially preaching
sexual abstinence over condom use. U.S. policies of coercion are
"doing terrible damage."

He said Brazil turned down a $40-million grant from the U.S, adding
that in Brazil "we have our principles."

"Central America is a [HIV/AIDS] disaster," he said. In Africa, where
U.S. pharmaceutical firms have long fought against affordable HIV
drugs, "it's real genocide." Brazil's policy is to provide generic
antiretroviral drugs free to all HIV-infected people.