DRUG STIGMA HARDEST ON WOMEN, SAYS BOOK BY UVIC PROFESSOR

Women have been getting a particularly bad deal in the war on drugs,
according to a new book by a University of Victoria professor.

Susan Boyd's From Witches to Crack Moms is a call for the end to the war on
drugs which emphasises on the impact it has historically had on women.

The drug policy researcher and professor in UVic's human and social
development faculty looked at where women fit in various drug wars
throughout history while writing her latest book. Much of the book's focus
is on whether men were seen different than women in the different drug wars.

"So I started tracing back different drug scares historically and saw that,
in Western culture, witch hunts were like drug scares," Boyd said.

The witch hunts that occurred between the 15th and 18th centuries were
considered drug scares partially because the witches were persecuted for
the herbs they used for women who were pregnant, she pointed out.

"They were seen as pagans," Boyd said.

During the period of the witch hunts, 85 per cent of those executed were
women, she said.

"So that was the first incident of a drug scare that I could find that had
widespread, that had significance to women," Boyd said.

A high rate of persecution for women in drug wars is a pattern that
continues to this very day, she said.

As it stands, about 14 per cent of all drug charges in Canada are against
women.

However, the percentage of women serving time in prison for drug-related
offences is higher than for men.

In 2004, 30 per cent of women serving time in federal prisons have been
convicted of drug-related charges. In contrast, 15 per cent of men doing
time in federal correctional facilities are serving sentences for drug
offences, Boyd said.

That pattern is consistent with what is happening in the U.S. and Great
Britain, she said.

"So it seems that when a women comes up through the criminal justice system
and she's charged with a drug offence, judges are harsher in their
punishment," Boyd said.

While the percentage of women arrested for drugs hasn't changed over the
years, judges are more likely to send women to prison than they would have
in the past, she said.

When Boyd delved into why more women are serving time in prison for drug
offences in Canada, Great Britain and the U.S., she concluded that there
has been a backlash against women - especially single parents.

"Drug-using mothers aren't only seen as breaking the law but they're seen
as breaking gender role expectations of them," Boyd said.

The vast majority of people - both men and women - serving time for drug
offences come from lower income backgrounds, she said. And that raises the
question about what the war on drugs is supposed to be achieving, Boyd said.

"Why spend all those resources criminalizing people when we might look at
this differently," she said.

From Witches to Crack Moms is available at the UVic book store.