MPS DEMAND A DRUG CZAR

'We Have Nobody' To Measure Success Of War On Drugs

A special parliamentary committee will recommend that Canada hire a
national drug czar -- similar to that in the U.S. -- to tackle the
country's multibillion-dollar problem of illegal drugs.

The committee on non-medical use of drugs will also recommend that Canada
relax its laws against marijuana possession and that the government
sanction sites in which addicts can safely inject drugs.

The recommendations are among about 30 that will be contained in a report
to be released within weeks, according to committee members.

The report will focus on the national drug strategy, which has been widely
criticized for its poor leadership, shoddy research and lack of measurable
results.

"There's no 'Big Brother,' " said MP Derek Lee, a Liberal committee member.

"We have no leader, we have nobody. We have no institution in the country
that's been given the job of setting goals and trying to find out if we get
there or not."

The committee, struck a year and a half ago, began meeting privately late
yesterday to put the finishing touches on its report, which it will give to
Parliament in the next couple of weeks.

Federal Auditor General Sheila Fraser, in a scathing report last December,
reported that Canada is ill-informed on the size of its drug problem
because nobody is in charge.

Ms. Fraser found that illegal drugs are costing the federal government
alone an estimated $5 billion annually through the harmful effects of drug use.

These effects include lost productivity, property crime, law enforcement
and health care.

She singled out the Justice Department and the RCMP for failing to
articulate what they have accomplished in pursuing drug files.

While the committee report will call for a national drug co-ordinator, some
members stressed they oppose Canada following the U.S.'s hardline drug
policy that focuses on prohibition.

Rather, the majority of the committee is expected to recommend that Canada
focus more on education and drug-treatment programs, as well as set up what
have become known as "safe injection sites" for drug addicts.

"We must do prohibition and enforcement, but we don't want to waste money
unnecessarily on prohibition and enforcement," said Mr. Lee. "We've got to
better manage what is out there: the lost lives, the smuggling, the
organized crime, the addictions, the dependency, the health-care risks, the
urban blight, the threat in schools, the lack of knowledge of young people."

The government has taken steps to address the problem. It has already
established drug courts in some Canadian cities, which provide addicts with
judicially supervised treatment and extensive medical and social support.

In the Liberals' throne speech last month, the government said it would
pursue a new national drug strategy, but provided no further details.

Health Canada has also said it will allow communities to establish
needle-injection sites, on a pilot-project basis, where drug addicts can go
for free needles and inject drugs under professional supervision.

Randy White, a Canadian Alliance member of the committee, strongly opposes
the idea, denouncing the sites as "heroin-maintenance centres."

NDP MP Libby Davies, however, says the report does not go far enough on the
treatment side, given that the government spends 95 per cent of its
resources on enforcement.

The report is also expected to recommend decriminalization of marijuana
possession on the grounds that the government should be devoting time and
resources to more harmful drugs.

Justice Minister Martin Cauchon is seriously considering decriminalization,
so that offenders would receive a fine akin to a parking ticket rather than
be saddled with a criminal record.