A recent call by several leading Canadian public health officials urging MPs to rethink the nation's illegal drug laws is likely to fall on deaf ears with the Harper Tories – especially with the Conservatives recently moving toward an even more ‘tough-on-crime' agenda.
Last week medical officers of health from several provinces published an article in the national Open Medicine magazine questioning Canada's current drug policies.
The doctors say measures such as increased criminal sanctions against offenders have failed to limit the availability of drugs and have, in turn, created opportunities for organized crime.
“Basically what we're saying is that we don't think that the model we're using is particularly effective,” said Dr. Perry Kendall, British Columbia's chief medical officer of health.
“In fact, there's some evidence that it's very ineffective and creates a whole class of harms which wouldn't be there if we weren't dealing with drugs in this particular way.”
The doctors are calling on MPs to have another looked at Canada's drug polices, and in particular whether illegal drug use should be treated more as a matter of health care rather than as a matter of crime and punishment.
With a big part of their recent agenda being the targeting of illegal drugs and those who use them, it's not at all surprising that the Conservatives do not appear swayed by the doctors' call.
In fact, the Harper government has already moved to toughen existing drug possession laws, with mandatory minimum sentences part of the federal crime bill that was given Royal Assent last month.
Yet if, as the physicians argue, tougher drug laws and penalties are not leading to reduced drug use, isn't it time to at very least examine alternative solutions?
And if those solutions could include a marked reduction in the power and control of organized crime in urban and rural communities, then all the better for the community at large.
The fight against illegal drug use in Canada has traditionally focused on ideology, with governments arguing that since drugs are illegal they should be fought with all available resources.
Yet with the fight against drugs already costing Canadian taxpayers huge amounts of money and resources, including countless hours of police time and the need to keep thousands of drug offenders in jails and prisons, doesn't it only make sense to look for possible long-term solutions?
The debate over illegal drug use in Canada has been ongoing for years. Maybe it's time for that debate to start focusing a little less on politics and a little more on dollars, cents and health care.
