HEALTH OFFICERS ENDORSE REGULATION AND FRAMEWORK TO LEGALIZE

Alcohol and tobacco are more dangerous than illegal substances,
according to an Okanagan medical health officer who is endorsing
regulation and a public health framework to legalize them.

"It's absolutely true," said Andrew Larder, who is based in Kelowna.
"Tobacco and alcohol, using very crude measures of health impact, are
much worse than some of these other substances. It makes sense to us
as health-care professionals and public health practitioners that we
use what we have learned from trying to regulate tobacco, trying to
regulate alcohol and the failure of prohibition against alcohol in
the last century. We need to learn from that and use the evidence we
have to take the best possible approach that will ensure the minimum
impact of these things on the health of the population."

Larder said about 17 per cent of all deaths in B.C. are attributable
to tobacco, four per cent to alcohol and less than 0.8 per cent to
other illegal substances.

The recent Stop the Violence B.C. report calling for regulation of
illegal substances like marijuana is very much in line with the
Health Officers Council of B.C. discussion paper, Public Health
Perspectives for Regulating Psychoactive Substances, released in
November that looks into what is effective in controlling substance
use and minimizing harm. In it, they argue, current prohibition of
some substances have had many failures and harms including
accelerating the spread of HIV and hepatitis, overdose deaths,
creation and aggravation of health and social problems due to
criminalization, stigmatizing and discrimination. The paper also
points to prohibition of substances to fuelling the existence of an
illegal market that produces crime, violent injuries, deaths and corruption.

The report released last month advocates for a strict regulatory
framework and public health approach to legal cannabis sales. It also
points out that marijuana use by teens has increased since the 1990s,
despite heavy spending on drug enforcement.

"We are not saying it's safe at all ... What we are saying is that
there is evidence out there to give us indication of the best way to
minimize the harm and damage that is associated with them. That is to
regulate them using a public health framework," said Larder.

According to the medical health officer, there are two extremes: one
being the substances are illegal and time is devoted to fighting the
people using and giving them criminal records. The other end is the
free market.

"Which is how we buy potato chips. Certainly we aren't advocating
either of those, but what we are supporting is a framework really
along the lines of how we deal with alcohol and tobacco already," said Larder.

That includes control over availability of where it is sold, supply,
production, quality, age of who can purchase, how it is purchased,
prices and taxes. Demand would also be controlled by providing people
with information about the impacts and potential harms and risks of
using each substance, just as cigarettes have sometimes graphic
images on the packaging warning of the dangers of smoking. Larder
said enforcement is involved to ensure people can stick within the
rules set up in the framework.

"With alcohol and tobacco, there are controls on where it can be used
and making sure there are appropriate health and social services to
assist people to deal with the health problems that might result from
the use and also any social problems that might occur and to have
those services available without stigma," said Larder. "You can
tailor the precise details of the framework depending on what we know
about health risks associated with using that substance."

The Medical Officers of B.C. report was designed to be a launching
pad of sorts to promote and stimulate discussion on moving away from
a purely criminal law enforcement approach to illegal substances to
one that is more evidence based.

"We want to try and engage people, provide them with information that
will encourage debate that might move us to a place where we do a
better job at protecting the population," said Larder.