WHAT'S GOVERNMENT SMOKING?

Re: Barely illegal (Bruce Strachan column, March 12).

It has become clear that the war-on-drugs approach has failed to
undercut the violence and substance abuse tied to the illegal drug
trade that plagues our cities.

While the World Health Organization (WHO) has stated its support for
harm-reduction strategies, the UN Commission on Narcotic Drugs is
currently meeting in Vienna to discuss adopting the approach and the
U.S. appoints a prevention-focused national drug policy chair, the
Canadian government is looking the other way and is refusing to
listen to the science on the issue of drug policy and harm-reduction
strategies.

The government has kept programs like Vancouver's INSite and drug
treatment courts across the country on a shoestring, constantly
threatening to cut their funding, which would kill the programs.

Additionally, last summer, former Health Minister Tony Clement
embarrassed himself at an international WHO meeting where he spoke
out against WHO support for the strategy, calling harm reduction "a sham."

If we are serious about addressing gang violence and the illegal drug
trade here in Canada, we must make the connection between violence,
the illegal drug trade and the demand for these illicit substances in
our cities. The answer is to address substance abuse as a medical
problem and cut the link between users and organized crime through
harm reduction and drug substitution programs.

The war on drugs has not reduced crime, harm or drug use. Canada
should be a leader at the international meeting in Vienna and come
out clearly in support of harm-reduction initiatives that work.

Keith Martin, MP, Esquimalt-Juan de Fuca Ottawa

(Dr. Keith Martin is a physician who worked in detox, and alcohol and
drug rehabilitation centres for 14 years.)