FORMER CHIEF HEALTH OFFICER BLASTS TORIES MANDATORY MINIMUM BILL

Former chief health officer for the City of Vancouver Dr. John
Blatherwick has joined more than 550 health professionals in blasting
the federal government's proposal to introduce mandatory minimum
prison sentences for drug offences.

"It's a retrograde step," said Blatherwick, who is retired and living
in New Westminster. "There's huge overcrowding in jails and no real benefit."

Bill S-10 was introduced by the minority Conservative government
earlier this week. If passed it would impose minimum six-month
sentences for those convicted of growing six to 200 marijuana plants.

Opposition has been spearheaded by the Urban Health Research
Initiative, a program of the B.C. Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS
and the Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network. They argue there is
significant evidence the Tories' approach won't meaningfully reduce
violence or drug use but, instead, will just waste taxpayers' dollars.

"Quite simply we're filling our jails up with people who don't really
belong in jail," said Blatherwick.

He maintained in most cases it's the non-violent, low-level
participants in the drug chain who get caught. It's when they are in
jail that they learn to become criminals.

Blatherwick is in favour of decriminalization, saying that ever since
it first became illegal in North America during the early part of the
20th century "it's never worked." Instead, it has created a violent
society with many people caught in the crossfire.

As Vancouver's health officer, Blatherwick did a lot of work in the
Downtown Eastside.

"Most of our (public health) programs made a difference," he said.

The letter from the health professionals points out high financial
and social costs are forcing the states of New York, Michigan,
Massachusetts and Connecticut to repeal their mandatory minimum
sentence legislation.

"The Canadian government is proposing a policy direction that has
cost jurisdictions in the United States billions of dollars without
achieving the desired benefits of lower crime and better public
health," said Richard Elliott, executive director of the Canadian
HIV/AIDS Legal Network.

The health professionals have also received support from Neil Boyd,
associate director of criminology at Simon Fraser University.

"Bill S-10 will put small-scale growers of marijuana in jail for a
minimum of six months, even though the RCMP's study of some 25,000
cultivation files reveals that violence or the threat of violence
among cultivators is rare," said Boyd. "We will be spending tens of
millions of dollars to imprison individuals who represent little if
any threat to the public."

The letter points out that drug policies in countries like Portugal,
the Netherlands, Switzerland and others demonstrate that emphasizing
public health policies is more effective at curbing drug use and
drug-related harms, and hasn't resulted in increases in illicit drug use.

- -with file from Alistair Waters, Black Press