CANADA MOVES ON DRUG FRONT

First it was a court ruling that had the effect of requiring our federal
government to supply marijuana for medicinal purposes. Next came a Senate
committee calling for legalization of marijuana. Now it's a Commons
committee urging "shooting galleries" for safe use of illicit drugs that
are injected and the federal justice minister saying legislation to
decriminalize marijuana possession could be introduced very soon.

All of this kind of talk among our political leaders could make it seem
Canada is about to become a drug user's haven. But is it?

What the politicians seem to be recognizing is that use of illicit drugs is
a problem that cannot be solved by the justice system alone. Decades of
enforcement and the use of the courts have not substantially reduced the
use of illegal drugs.

Unlike their counterparts in the U.S. who are spending billions of dollars
and sending thousands and thousands to jail for drug use in a fruitless
"war on drugs," many of our elected representatives say it is time to try
other ways.

The new Canadian emphasis (like some Western European countries) will be on
education and treatment -- a "harm reduction" strategy. Much of the nearly
$500 million now being spent annually on enforcement could go towards
helping addicts deal with their drug dependencies and the health and social
problems associated with that.

Health Canada is launching a pilot project on safe-injection sites in three
of Canada's major cities, likely Vancouver, Toronto and Montreal, in an
effort to get addicts in touch with the services they need.

The Commons committee in addition suggests two of Canada's federal prisons
be used exclusively for treating drug-addicted prisoners. And it recommends
a federal drug policy czar to monitor illicit drug use and the
effectiveness of treatment and education programs.

Almost lost in all the proposals for solutions to illicit drug use has been
its very real links with crime. Marijuana "grow" operations have become a
major criminal industry in British Columbia and most heroin addicts turn to
crime to get the money to support their drug addictions.

It is here the proposed strategies fall short -- many of the proposals take
away sanctions for illicit drug use without controlling the criminal
sources of the drugs.

The Commons committee may have an answer for that. It is expected to
recommend that Canadians be allowed to grow marijuana for personal use and
some of its members are suggesting that Ottawa should study treatment
models in which the government supplies illicit drug to addicts for use in
a safe setting.

Those indeed would be radical steps. It is one thing to decriminalize
simple possession of drugs like marijuana and to provide vastly increased
resources to help those already addicted to illicit drugs such as heroin.
It quite another to allow Canadians to legally grow their own "stash" and
to supply addicts with illicit drugs.

That is only one small step away from the government becoming a drug
trafficker itself, something the vast majority of Canadians are unlikely to
support.