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thepeel
Joined: 08 Aug 2004
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 Posted: Thu May 24, 2007 12:39 am Post subject: Tories to shun 'safe drug' sites |
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OTTAWA - The Harper government's new anti-drug strategy is expected to take a tough approach to illicit drugs, including cracking down on grow-ops and pushers and retreating from "harm reduction" measures such as safe injection sites for addicts.
The new strategy, slated to be announced next week, is also understood to include more money for treatment and a national drug-use prevention campaign.
The federal budget last March offered a glimpse of the strategy by allocating an additional $64-million over two years for enforcement, treatment and prevention. But the budget figures did not mention harm-reduction measures, which aim to limit the spread of infectious diseases through substance abuse.
They haven't explicitly said they are getting rid of harm reduction, but the budget numbers speak for themselves," said Leon Mar, spokesman for the Canadian HIV-AIDS Legal Network. "There is no money for harm reduction, which is quite ominous for what will be."
Joanne Csete, the network's executive director, recently wrote in a letter to parliamentarians that the Conservatives are contemplating "a U.S.-style war on drugs, an approach that has proven time and time again to be counterproductive and a tragic waste of public funds."
Of the new money allocated in the federal budget, $22-million would go to law enforcement efforts to crack down on marijuana grow operations and to catch and convict dealers. Drug treatment programs would get a boost of $32-million, including money for research aimed at treating crystal methamphetamine addicts.
And another $10-million would be spent on a prevention campaign for young people and their parents. Tony Cannavino, president of the Canadian Police Association, said a national "sayno- to-drugs" campaign would counter a perception among young people that marijuana is legal, in light of a failed Liberal bid to decriminalize the possession of small amounts of the drug.
The new Tory strategy is also expected to endorse drug treatment courts, which already exist in Vancouver, Edmonton, Regina, Winnipeg, Toronto and Ottawa. |
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Octavius Hite
Joined: 28 Jan 2004
Location: Househunting, looking for a new bunker from which to convert the world to homosexuality.
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| Posted: Thu May 24, 2007 7:59 am Post subject: |
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What do you expect from a government that believes in witchcraft and opinion polls more than science, fact and the overall safety of its citizens. Luckily we have socialized medicine so when the HIV infection rate sky rockets after they close the clinic we will all pay even more tax dollars to take of the people they hate. Way to go conservatives! Way to think long term!  |
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thepeel
Joined: 08 Aug 2004
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| Posted: Thu May 24, 2007 9:21 am Post subject: |
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Agreed.
I'm a single issue voter now. Any political party that will end the war on drugs gets my vote. I'd even vote for the ndp. |
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mithridates
Joined: 03 Mar 2003
Location: President's office, Korean Space Agency
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| Posted: Thu May 24, 2007 9:33 am Post subject: |
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| BJWD wrote: |
| I'm a single issue voter now. Any political party that will end the war on drugs gets my vote. I'd even vote for the ndp. |
How would you imagine a government in Canada could do that considering the reaction we could expect from the US government? |
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thepeel
Joined: 08 Aug 2004
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| Posted: Thu May 24, 2007 9:59 am Post subject: |
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| mithridates wrote: |
| BJWD wrote: |
| I'm a single issue voter now. Any political party that will end the war on drugs gets my vote. I'd even vote for the ndp. |
How would you imagine a government in Canada could do that considering the reaction we could expect from the US government? |
I know.. The border would be much changed.
But Harper is moving away from even the small reforms that have been made already. This is extra bad. |
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riverboy
Joined: 03 Jun 2003
Location: Incheon
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| Posted: Thu May 24, 2007 1:44 pm Post subject: |
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| The biggest drug problem in Canada is the prescription drug problem right now. While I think there are legitimate reasons to want to get rid of grow ops, I am all for the legalisation of pot |
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