July 22, 2010

Dear Hon. Ms. Leona Aglukkaq,

We are writing to you to express our frustration, anger, and sheer confusion over the Canadian government’s refusal to acknowledge and support the use of harm reduction strategies and policies as part of a national and international drug strategy.  Originally, we were going to write to you to express the desire of young people across Canada and the world for you to sign the Vienna Declaration, a global call to reform drug policies to reflect scientific evidence on best practices to stop the AIDS epidemic.  We then heard the statement from a Canadian official saying that the Vienna Declaration was inconsistent with the National Anti-Drug Strategy because of its inclusion of harm reduction services.  We realized this letter had to address the root of the problem: the neglectful, irresponsible, socially damaging policy that is the National Anti-Drug Strategy.  We have been and continue to be especially concerned about the removal of harm reduction as a pillar of drug policy, and the criminalization and stigmatization of drug users.

The current government policy is that prevention is harm reduction, and that no more needs to be done about it.  This policy is disastrous, political and contemptuous.   The results of this ‘top-down’ policy are damaging to Canadian communities, families and individuals and to people around the world. People working in communities across the country and around the world providing front-line harm reduction services see that harm reduction programs are saving and improving lives every day.  Because of the government’s approach, InSite, North America’s only supervised injection site, is caught up in legal battles with the federal government instead of focusing its efforts and resources on the community it serves.  The government’s youth drug education program ‘Drugs: not4me’ denies young people critical harm reduction information that could save their lives, or empower them to save a friend’s life.  Internationally, the Canadian position on drug policy is contemptuous of the stark reality that Russia and Eastern Europe now have the world’s fastest spreading HIV/AIDS rates because of their governments’ refusal to provide harm reduction services.  The current Canadian policy only enables and encourages the policies of other countries which encourage the horrific spread of disease: the National Anti-Drug Strategy “is fanning the flames of the AIDS epidemic” around the world.

Harm reduction programs and services save lives.  They provide social benefits in reduced long-term burdens on the health care system.  They engage people with health care services, services that can help them beat their addiction.  This is what the evidence repeatedly shows.  This is why researchers, former heads of states, community workers, health officials, and more have signed and publicly endorsed the Vienna Declaration.  There is a global critical mass building to reform drug policies to provide diverse harm reduction services.  Instead Canada is fighting against the tide, and losing the fight against the problems caused by drugs.

The criminalization of drug users has created more harm than the drugs themselves.  The focus on criminal enforcement by the current and previous Canadian governments has created massive enforcement budgets and scarce resources for treatment, prevention, and harm reduction.  Communities across Canada and around the world have learned the hard way that drugs have to be addressed as a health issue, not a criminal justice issue.  Criminalizing drugs instead of regulating them based on a public health approach has put young people on the front lines of the drug trade AND the drug war.  The Canadian government continues to ignore the reality and trumpet a ‘tough on crime’ approach in the House and to the electorate, despite reports that the Canadian crime rate has gone down for the last 10 years, while communities are left to pick up the pieces of the federal government’s ignorance on effective and compassionate drug policy. 

We are frustrated that the Canadian government continues to ignore the evidence on successful drug policies.  We are angry that this ignorance is damaging our communities, our families, and as young people, our futures – through the preventable spread of disease, through the criminalization of our family, our peers, and our neighbours, and through the continued spread of misinformation in order to support your policies.  We are just plain confused as to how the health minister can say that Canada is a ‘leader’ in the fight against HIV/AIDS, and then endorse the policies that are fuelling the HIV/AIDS epidemic within Canada and around the world.

We call on the Canadian government to get to the root of the drug problem in Canada.  Remove the National Anti-Drug Strategy.  Enact policy based on evidence.  Enact policy that treats drugs as a health issue.  End the criminalization of drugs and drug users.  Spend money on providing harm reduction services, not taking them to court.  Provide balanced funding for harm reduction, treatment, and prevention, as well as enforcement.  Only by doing so will the federal Canadian government be in a position where it could sincerely endorse the Vienna Declaration and join the call for successful, evidence based policies to address the issue of drugs in our society.

Yours in creating healthy, safe communities in Canada and around the world,

Caleb Chepesiuk
Director
Canadian Students for Sensible Drug Policy
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www.cssdp.org

cc: Right Hon. Mr. Stephen Harper, Prime Minister of Canada

Hon. Mr. Michael Ignatieff, Liberal Leader

Hon. Mr. Jack Layton, New Democrat Party Leader

Mr. Gilles Duceppe, Bloc Québécois Leader

Hon. Mr. Rob Nicholson, Minister of Justice

Hon. Mr. Dominic LeBlanc, Justice Critic, Liberal

Mr. Joe Comartin, Justice Critic, New Democrat Party

Mr. Serge Ménard, Justice Critic, Bloc Québécois

Ms. Kirsty Duncan, Public Health Critic, Liberal

Hon. Ms Carolyn Bennett, Health Critic, Liberal

Ms. Megan Leslie, Health Critic, New Democrat Party