DON'T DO IT CANADA

Does moving open-air drug markets from one Vancouver neighbourhood to the
next constitute drug war victory? Drug policy should focus not on reducing
the total number of people who use drugs, but rather on reducing the death,
disease, crime and suffering associated with both drug abuse and prohibition.

The good news is that BC has already adopted many of the common sense harm
reduction interventions first pioneered in Europe. The bad news is that
Canada's southern neighbour continues to use its superpower status to
export a dangerous moral crusade around the globe.

The United States provides tragic examples of anti-drug strategies that are
best avoided. U.S. Centres for Disease Control researchers estimate that 57
per cent of AIDS cases among women and 36 per cent of overall AIDS cases in
the U.S. are linked to injection drug use or sex with partners who inject
drugs.

This easily preventable public health crisis is a direct result of zero
tolerance laws that restrict access to clean syringes. Can Canada afford to
emulate the harm maximisation drug policies of the former land of the free
and current record holder in citizens incarcerated?

Don't believe me? Check out the U.S. Centres for Disease Control stats at
http://www.cdc.gov/hiv/pubs/facts/idu.htm.

Robert Sharpe