Bookmarks: http://www.mapinc.org/find?142 (Safe Injecting Rooms)
http://www.mapinc.org/hr.htm (Harm Reduction)
http://www.mapinc.org/topics/Commons+committee (Commons committee)

WHITE LIKES SOME, HATES SOME IN DRUG REPORT

While he's furious with the harm reduction plans that he predicts
would create "ghettos for addicts," Langley-Abbotsford MP Randy White
said he strongly supports some of the other 40 recommendations in a
drug report re-leased Monday.

Those include dedicating two federal prisons to include mandatory drug
treatment; the appointment of a drug commissioner to monitor,
investigate and audit a renewed national drug strategy; more money for
research, education, awareness; and regular surveys to have a clearer
understanding of the extent of the problem of drug abuse in Canada.

"One of the biggest impediments [to the committee] was that we didn't
know how bad the drug situation was because the Liberals cut funds for
the drug survey," White said Monday.

White was the vice-chairman of a special parliamentary committee on
the non-medical use of drugs in Canada. For 18 months the committee,
led by Liberal MP Paddy Torsney, toured Canadian cities including
Abbotsford and drug treatment centres in western European cities.

The outspoken Abbotsford Canadian Alliance MP is critical of the
current lack of support and funding the Liberal government has given
to the Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse and the drug problem in the
country in general.

He blasts Health Minister Anne McClellan for opening the door for safe
injections sites, such as one proposed for Vancouver, before the
report has a chance to be reviewed by Canadians and drug treatment
strategists.

McClellan and other Liberal ministers have inappropriately pre-empted
the $500,000 report, heading off on policy directions without
consulting the report's authors, White said.

His concern stems from the harm reduction heroin dispensing programs
and needle exchanges he saw in Europe, which he said were nothing more
than "ghettos for drug addicts."

"They do not work successfully. They're so far away from where the
average parent would want their kids to be," he said.

These harm reduction plans are problematic in health, security and
legal terms, White argues.

The quality of drugs weren't always monitored in the European legal
injection sites, he said.

White also expects that if illegal drug use will be allowed for pilot
projects, someone will soon argue they can shoot up anywhere, holding
up the Charter of Rights and Freedoms in support of their argument.

"If you allow injection of drugs in Vancouver, they'll want to do it
in Abbotsford. I'll say my house is a safe injection site. I see this
as the problem down the road," he said.

He also added the two sets of rules will make enforcement difficult
for police.

White did praise several recommendations, including prevention,
abstinence and more money for drug addiction professionals and
treatment centres.

He'd like to see existing programs expanded and boosted before
"resorting to harm reduction" models.

"The only reason current treatment programs aren't successful is
because they're poorly funded," he said, citing a Campbell Valley
treatment centre for women that was closed due to a lack of funding.

White also wants a review of methadone clinics, many of which are
administered not by medical professionals but by "recovering heroin
addicts who have sympathy for the addicts."

While most of Canada's drug strategy looks dismal, it's even worse in
Canada's prisons, he said.

"Corrections Canada has the worst performance in dealing with
substance abuse yet they get the most money," he said, which is why he
endorses a three-year plan to stem the flow of drugs into prison.

He also likes the recommendation to dedicate two federal prisons where
sentences would include mandatory drug treatment.

"There is a large-scale prison in Ensenada, Mexico, that has been very
successful. I'd like to bring that [program] to Canada."

White is confident he'll be able to bring some of the recommendations
to life if he and other MPs continue to push for them.

"This [report] is just the start for me. I whined about the sex
registry for two years and we got it. We'll need lots of consistent
pressure and it has to be non-partisan. It's important - there's a lot
of people who are counting on us to do something," he said.

The Canadian Alliance party will also be releasing its position on
marijuana to Parliament on Thursday.