TORY DRUG PLAN EARNS APPLAUSE, LITTLE CRITICISM

Focus on Both Prevention and Enforcement Welcomed

EXPERTS hailed the federal government's anti-drug strategy Thursday,
saying it's a balance between tough law enforcement and compassion
for young drug users.

Some, however, gave the strategy little chance of succeeding, saying
the strategy's attempts to change social attitudes towards drugs were
misguided.

And amid the reaction to Prime Minister Stephen Harper's
announcement, there was also disbelief that this was the same
politician who had built a reputation on viewing illegal drug use
largely as a criminal issue.

"The first thing that struck me was I was surprised at how much was
earmarked for what they call prevention and treatment," said
University of Manitoba criminologist Frank Cormier.

According to Harper, $63.8 million will be divided between preventing
illegal drug use, treating drug dependencies and fighting drug
production and trafficking.

"Given... the approach to crime and justice from this government, I
expected, just based on past behaviour, more of an enforcement
approach than a treatment approach," Cormier added.

Still, he gave the strategy a thumbs up.

"I agree with the approach, that is, putting more emphasis on
treatment and tackling the problem itself rather than reacting to it
and locking people up," Cormier said.

But he questioned the strategy's aim of changing social attitudes
towards illegal drugs.

"If you approached the vast majority of young people in the country
and said, 'What do you think about using crystal meth or smoking
crack cocaine?' I think they'd say that's a bad thing to do," Cormier
said. "So, I'm not sure there's a whole lot of ground to be gained there."

An addiction specialist also saw potential for concern among
advocates of so-called harm-reduction programs, such as Vancouver's
safe-injection facility, that create safe conditions for drug users.
The government appeared to favour "just-say-no" programs that were
aimed at stopping youth or addicts from using drugs, said John
Borody, chief executive of the Addictions Foundation of Manitoba, a
provincial agency that treats about 10,000 people each year for drug,
alcohol and gambling addictions.

Law enforcement officials welcomed the Tory plan.

"For the last, I would say, eight years, 10 years, we've had mixed
messages here, with the report on the legalization of marijuana, with
the bill on decriminalization of marijuana," said Tony Cannavino,
president of the Canadian Police Association, an advocacy
organization that represents about 55,000 police personnel across
Canada. "Well, what happened? It (normalized) the use of marijuana. A
lot of people in Canada think that it's legal to smoke marijuana and
(think) it's not worse than tobacco. Well, tobacco is very harmful
for your health. Imagine marijuana.

"We're getting on a track where we're going to be targeting drug
dealers but we're going to help people struggling with a drug
addiction," Cannavino said. "Police officers are happy to see that
there's prevention, there's treatment and there's also education for kids."

The father of a young man murdered in a drug-related crime, who has
set up a foundation that supports youth drug awareness and education,
also applauded the government's emphasis on both prevention of drug
use and law enforcement.

"What makes us excited about today is that two-thirds of this funding
is based on exactly what we stand for and one-third is based on
putting (people) away very strongly for bringing the drugs into the
public," said Floyd Wiebe, director of the Winnipeg-based T.J.'s Gift
Foundation, named for his son.

"I've never heard of anything this vast or this comprehensive," added
Wiebe, who was among a group that met with Harper before his
announcement. "I love the two-step approach, two step meaning
education and enforcement. ...You can come down with all kinds of
laws to put drug dealers away, that's not going to solve your issue."