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NDP Response / Position on S-10 - NDP Spokesperson for Drug Policy Libby Davies

Submitted by Nicole Seguin on Fri, 05/21/2010 - 5:15pm
Thanks for your email outlining your opposition to Bill S-10, an Act to amend the Controlled Drug and Substances Act.
 
I share your concerns and have been working at every turn to stop this failed, George Bush style war-on-drugs Bill that proposes mandatory minimum sentences for drug crimes.
My NDP colleagues and I voted a resounding NO when this Bill was introduced in the House as Bill C-15, but it was passed with the support of the Liberal Party. Now we have a second chance to stop this wrong-headed and costly legislation.
 
The Conservative Government knows that mandatory minimum sentences for drug crimes don’t work. After weeks of debate, testimony and studies delivered by extraordinary expert witnesses at a Parliamentary Justice Committee on the issue, the evidence was clear that mandatory minimum sentences for drug crimes do not work.
 
Organizations like the John Howard Society, the Canadian Bar Association and Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network all warned that these sentences mostly target low-level drug users and street dealers, and not the drug-lords and king-pins that the Conservatives have promised to go after.
 
Canada spends 73% of its drug policy budget on enforcement for what is essentially a public health issue. I will continue to push for the proven four pillar approach to drug use – including enforcement, but with real resources going to prevention, treatment and harm reduction. The Conservatives’ iron fisted approach that criminalizes drug users is taking Canada in the wrong direction.
 
Sincerely,
 
Libby Davies, MP Vancouver East
NDP Spokesperson for Drug Policy
 
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Comments

1. "drug policy" misnomers 2. cannabis and harm reduction

Submitted by Anonymous on Thu, 08/26/2010 - 3:46pm.

1. I regret that you would play into the hands of the
Drug Warriors by not taking care to distinguish between cannabis and "drugs".

2. Legalization of cannabis would bring with it de facto legalization of the ultimate drug harm prevention and reduction-- replacement of the hot burning overdose $igarette "marketing format" with vaporizer, e-cigarette and "one-hitters" which today are hazardous to own because of the danger of their being used as evidence to arrest and prosecute, based on association with illegal cannabis, as compared to the ease of hiding or disposing of a hot burning "joint". This paradox must be removed from the equation before "drug" problems can be solved.

Drug legislation

Submitted by Anonymous on Tue, 05/25/2010 - 12:00am.

Just legalize all drugs. Get the criminal element out and deal with it as a medical problem. We will save lots of money and have less crime. It is a no brainer.