CANADA'S DRUG WAR A BUST, STUDY SAYS

Fund Treatment Instead, Researchers Urge

It was billed as one of the largest heroin seizures in Canadian history,
almost 100 kilograms of uncut drug hidden in a false floor of a shipping
container in the port of Vancouver. But a major new study has found that
the bust made no difference on the street.

Good quality heroin wasn't any harder to find in Vancouver after the Sept.
2000 seizure, the price of the drug didn't go up and there was no drop in
the number of overdoses. Researchers at the British Columbia Centre for
Excellence in HIV/AIDS say their findings, published in today's edition of
the Canadian Medical Association Journal, raise important questions about
the effectiveness of Canada's war on drugs.

"The results are quite alarming considering the size of the seizure," said
Evan Wood, a researcher at the centre. He added there is strong evidence
that money would be better spent on treatment and programs to reduce the
harm caused by drug abuse, rather than just on stopping criminal activity.

The B.C. researchers had been regularly interviewing injection drug users
since 1996 as part of a long-term study. They ask drug users about the
price of heroin and other drugs, how difficult they are to find, and about
overdoses. A year after the bust, they decided to review the information to
see if it had made any difference. At the time of the seizure, police had
evidence the heroin was destined for the Vancouver market.

"I was very surprised we did not see an effect," said Martin Schechter,
head of the B.C Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS. But he said the findings
add to a growing body of evidence that shows the North American approach to
fighting illegal drug use is not working.

"When you look at the strategy on drugs, the overwhelming percentage goes
to a criminal-justice approach to the problem: the police, courts and
jails. It (the study) questions if that is the right emphasis in the strategy."

Alex Swann, a spokesman for federal Health Minister Anne McLellan, said the
government has spent so little on its drug strategy, with the exception of
drug enforcement, because of budgetary constraints.

He said the federal drug strategy is now being reviewed, and the government
is considering implementing new elements that deal with addiction and
public safety.