NEW FEDERAL DRUG PLAN A GIVE-AND-TAKE

Increased Treatment Funding And Awareness Campaign May Mean Cutbacks
To Harm Reduction Programs

Unveiling his National Anti-Drug Strategy in early October, Health
Minister Tony Clement and Prime Minister Harper promised mandatory
prison sentences for serious drug offences, a national awareness
campaign targeted at youth, and more funding for drug treatment, but
did not promise funding for harm reduction programs. This, combined
with the government's promise to "refocus" existing drug programs,
has many worried about cuts to existing programs.

Harm reduction aims to reduce the impact of drug use without forcing
users to stop using drugs completely. Initiatives can include needle
exchanges, methadone programs, and safe injection sites like the
pilot Insite in Vancouver.

"The reality is that some people cannot or will not stop using
drugs," said the AIDS Committee of Toronto, in response to Harper's
new strategy. They argue that too much focus on punishment and
abstinence will increase the rates of HIV and overdosing. World
Health Organization studies show that needle exchange programs reduce
HIV/ AIDS infection rates among injection drug users. But Harper
still insists that he is going after dealers, not users.

"Our message is clear: drugs are dangerous and destructive," he said.
"If drugs do get hold of you-there's help to get you off them. And if
you sell or produce drugs-you'll pay with jail time."

It's not that simple, according to Diane Riley, Associate Member of
the Department of Public Health Sciences at the University of
Toronto, and founder of the International Harm Reduction Association.

"Lots of users have to be small-time dealers to survive," she said.
"And at the same time the government is doing this, arrests for
simple possession for marijuana have more than doubled, if not
tripled, in the last year."

Riley appreciates that the strategy puts extra money into treatment,
but she also argues that there needs to be greater choice of
treatment to better suit specific users.

"I think people have to remember that harm reduction is secondary
prevention, so we have to emphasize that with the Harper government,"
she said. "You're funding prevention, so be sure to fund primary,
secondary and tertiary prevention."

An international expert on harm reduction, Riley has long been
frustrated by the attitude towards drug policy reform put forward by
both Conservative and Liberal governments. She also suggested that
there is also more that U of T could do.

"I've offered to teach a course on harm reduction, which I've been
teaching at York, and U of T is not interested," she said.