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Eric Single, "The Economic Costs of Illicit Drugs and Drugs Enforcement" A recent study of the economic costs of alcohol, tobacco and illicit drugs to Canadian society in 1992 estimated that over $ 400 million is spent for police, courts and corrections to enforce and process criminal charges attributable to the use of illicit drugs. The causal connections between illicit drug use and crime are discussed, and provincial variations in criminal justice costs across provinces are described. Law enforcement costs are compared with other economic costs attributable to illicit drugs. The costs of illicit drugs are also compared to those costs attributable to legal drugs such as alcohol and tobacco. While the costs of drug enforcement are considerable, caution should be taken in interpreting the policy implications of the results. The cost estimates do not represent the impact of illicit drugs on government budgets, and not all of these costs are avoidable. Indeed, the comparatively high policy costs of illicit drugs compared to legal drugs may be used to argue for or against changes in drug policy. An informed debate on drug policy requires not only information regarding the economic costs of illicit drugs but also on the effectiveness of drug policies. Diane Riley and Pat O'Hare, "Harm Reduction: Policy and Practice" Harm reduction" is a relatively new social policy with respect to drugs. It has as its first priority a decrease in the negative consequences of drug use. Harm reduction recognizes that abstinence may be neither a realistic nor a desirable goal for some, especially in the short term. The spread of AIDS among drug users has been a catalyst for the rise in popularity of harm reduction. Harm reduction programs and policies include: syringe exchange, methadone and other drug prescription programs and tolerance areas. Tim Quigley, "Canada's Drug Policy From the National Police Perspective" Canada's fundamental approach toward drug policy is sensible. The truth about the negative effects of drug use on the user and on society as a whole must be made better known. All illicit drugs are truly destructive -- we make no attempt to differentiate between so-called hard and soft drugs. One dose of high potency marijuana is equivalent to one dose of LSD. Far more fatal traffic accidents are associated with marijuana use than with cocaine use. Legalization would not end drug-related crime but would, instead, add more crimes. Legalization would also send a message to Canadian youth that it is okay to do drugs, making prevention and demand reduction efforts futile. Mark A. R. Kleiman, "Drug Policy for Crime Control" Sorry, the abstract for this article is not available. Wayne Hall, "Creating Space for a More Reasoned Debate About Drug Policy" Sorry, the abstract for this article is not available. Patricia G. Erickson, "Addicted to Law: For a Health Directed Drug Policy" Sorry, the abstract for this article is not available. Line Beauchesne, "Les politiques actuelles sur les drogues : tendances contradictoires" The author shows how, in recent years, divergent trends have developed in most western countries between drug policy and health policy, and between local and national approaches. Bruce Alexander , "Reframing Canada's 'Drug Problem'" There has never been a durable consensus on drug policy in Canada, but rather a waxing and waning of three long-familiar types of intervention--criminal, medical, and harm-reduction. A more promising policy would reallocate resources from all three of these marginally-effective interventions towards reducing the root cause of self-destructive drug use, i.e., social and personal "dislocation". Neil Boyd, "Rethinking our Policy on Cannabis" The criminalization of marijuana use produces more harm than the drug itself, subjecting users to imprisonment, fines and the employment and travel disabilities that flow from the existence of a criminal record. If a Canadian chooses to use marijuana privately, among other consenting adults, this ought not to be the concern of the state. However, growing and distributing marijuana for profit is fairly seen as tantamount to promotion of the drug. This is reasonably prohibited. In an ideal world, with more unfettered freedoms, marijuana might well find its place alongside liquor in our country's retail sales outlets. But in the imperfect and contradictory realities in which we live, compromise and cautious proposals appear to be the more compelling prescription. Benedikt Fischer, Eric Single, Robin Room, Christiane Poulin, Ed Sawka, Herb Thompson and John Topp, "Cannabis Use in Canada: Policy Options For Control" The goal of cannabis policy should be to find an appropriate balance between minimizing the harms associated with use while, at the same time, minimizing the costs and adverse consequences which result from attempts to control such use. The current policy has failed to achieve the envisaged policy balance -- it has entailed considerable social and individual costs with little demonstrable deterrent impact or other benefits. The authors outline a number of policy alternatives. Given the positive experience of other jurisdictions in adopting less punitive approaches to cannabis possession, they argue that cannabis possession should not be subject to a jail term and that steps should be taken to minimize the criminal record consequences for offenders. In particular, strong consideration should be given to the creation of a civil offense for cannabis possession under the recently enacted federal Contraventions Act. |
