[Praxius]

CTV.ca | Tories to outline $64-million anti-drug strategy

The Conservative government is set to announce today its $64 million anti-drug strategy, touted as a balance between prevention and punishment. Prime Minister Stephen Harper will outline the plan in Winnipeg alongside Health Minister Tony Clement. The initiative will focus on combining prevention and treatment with harsher penalties for illicit drug use and a crackdown against drug smuggling at the border. "There are two aspects to this,'' a source familiar with the announcement told The Canadian Press. "How can you help the user? And the other thing is punishing the dealer.'' Funding for the strategy was set out in the 2007 federal budget. The government has set aside $32 million for treatment facilities like detox and rehab centres. Health Minister Tony Clement said Saturday that the plan will show that the government is "back in the business of an anti-drug strategy." "There hasn't been a meaningful retooling of our strategy to tackle illicit drugs in over 20 years in this country," Clement told CP. Marijuana use About $10 million has been allocated in the plan to fund an awareness campaign directed at young people. The government wants to remind youth about the dangers of marijuana and that the drug remains illegal. The Conservatives quashed a bill from the previous Liberal government decriminalizing possession of small amounts of marijuana shortly after coming to power last year -- despite support for the resolution in the House of Commons from every other party. Since then, drug-related arrests have spiked dramatically across the country with a number of Canadian cities reporting arrest increases by more than one-third. Toronto, Vancouver, Ottawa and Halifax all reported increases of between 20 and 50 per cent in 2006 of arrests for possession of cannabis, compared with 2005 statistics. Police forces claim many people believed the Liberal bill had passed, prompting users to spark up in public without fear of reprisal. As a result, thousands of people were charged with criminal offences that would have been classified as a misdemeanour under the previous Liberal government. Legal experts argued earlier this year that inconsistencies in Canada's marijuana laws made it difficult for the justice system to handle the sudden influx of possession cases brought before the courts under the Conservative government's new focus on enforcement. Other critics claim the crackdown on marijuana is a waste of taxpayers' money and some drug-dependency experts have also challenged the notion that the substance is a 'gateway' to harder drugs. They argue that marijuana actually keeps users from experimenting with other drugs. Safe injection sites In the past, Clement has vocalized his opposition to harm reduction strategies like safe injection sites, where nurses provide clean needles and safe havens to illicit drug users. At a Canadian Medical Association meeting last month, Clement was quoted saying "harm reduction, in a sense, takes many forms. To me, prevention is harm reduction. Treatment is harm reduction. Enforcement is harm reduction.'' Advocates say the sites help to prevent the spread of deadly diseases like AIDS and Hepatitis by reducing the number of needles shared. This week, the federal government granted Vancouver's safe injection site a six-month reprieve, meaning it can stay open until June. While the extension was welcomed, critics say the move simply allows Ottawa to get rid of the issue until after a possible fall election. A Health Canada spokesperson said the exemption will allow the government to conduct further research on the issue.

And that's why they never got my vote last time.... nor will they get my vote this next time.

About $10 million has been allocated in the plan to fund an awareness campaign directed at young people. The government wants to remind youth about the dangers of marijuana and that the drug remains illegal.

Instead of some 10 million dollar awareness plan, why don't they put that money into some actual research into some new "Awareness" with some updated facts?