Finally, The Drug Debate Has Been Reopened!
Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper signaled a major change in Canadian Drug Policy today. Here's a key point he made:
"I remain a skeptic that you can tell people that we won't stop the drug trade, we won't get you off drugs, we won't even send messages to discourage drug use but somehow we will keep you addicted but reduce the harm just the same," Mr. Harper said of the Insite program. "If you remain a drug addict, I don't care how much harm you reduce, you are going to have a short and miserable life."
That's EXACTLY my problem with Insite. Of course, our socialist friends like NDP MP Libby Davies is totally against what Harper is saying, which means, of course, that she is 100% HAPPY that drug addicts remain drug addicts. I consider her viewpoint to be uncaring and despicable.
I'm hoping that David Berner will be commenting on this on his blog soon.
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drug policy,
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Stephen Harper
2 comments:
In my view harm reduction is just another way to enable poverty, homelessness and drug abuse. We have created a vast enabling social system that allows people to make the choice to live as a drug addict.
We need to break this downward spiral of drug addiction and actually focus on getting people clean and sober, instead of facilitating a lifestyle of drug depandancy!
Did you happen to catch Jon McComb's interview of ex-mayor, Philip Owen today on CKNW? It was absolutely shocking, both what Owen was saying and that McComb didn't challenge him at all.
Here's my take on what Stephen Harper said today:
1. Canada will have minimum prison sentences for illicit drug manufacturers and dealers.
2. Canada will take more assertive action at putting drug addicts through treatment.
Yet all Philip Owen could say is "we don't want a U.S. style war on drugs" and "we can't force drug addicts to accept help". His first comment is meaningless rhetoric. Is his second comment valid? I don't believe so. I think that after a person is found to be high on serious drugs (not marijuana) more than 3 times that they must immediately be enrolled in a drug treatment program, one that is far away from any urban centre.
Does me saying this make me some kind of uncaring nutcase?! If so, then I must be living in the Twilight Zone.
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