cannabisnews.com: Time to Ease Off War on Drugs, Says Senator!





Time to Ease Off War on Drugs, Says Senator!
Posted by FoM on June 15, 1999 at 19:19:46 PT
By Jim Brown
Source: Vancouver Sun
OTTAWA The war on drugs isn't working and it's time to study alternatives, including possible decriminalization of some substances, says Conservative Senator Pierre-Claude Nolin.
"The repressive approach leads nowhere," he told a news conference Tuesday. "We have to examine it from another angle, the angle of public health." Nolin is trying to drum up support, from Liberals as well as Tories, to form a special Senate committee to review the country's drug laws. "My personal opinion is to have in future a much more conciliatory approach toward users of any drug," he said. "When you prohibit the use of drugs you only perpetuate the black market." Nolin, best known as a backroom operative for former prime minister Brian Mulroney, admitted to "past tense" recreational use of marijuana but said he doesn't smoke it any more. He suggested decriminalizing possession of "non-harmful" drugs but cautioned that more study is needed on which ones are non-harmful. He also insisted his personal opinions are less important than creating a forum to air public views. Nolin envisions a committee that would spend two years gathering data and holding hearings in Canada and overseas before reaching any conclusions. Sharon Carstairs, the deputy Liberal leader in the Senate, expressed support for the idea, as did Liberal colleague Colin Kenny. "I think it would be an excellent study for the Senate," Carstairs said in an interview. "I think we should go into it without any foregone conclusions." She likened the exercise to the work of the LeDain commission which studied non-medical drug use more than 25 years ago. Its best-remembered recommendation was decriminalization of simple possession of marijuana, though the government never acted on the proposal. Kenny, who has crusaded against tobacco use, said he wants a more realistic approach to drug laws but wouldn't say if that includes decriminalization. He observed that he's learned from his anti-smoking efforts that adolescents don't respond well to authoritarian initiatives. "The very essence of being an adolescent is rebelling against authority figures. If you want to make progress on the drug front , there may be some parallels with smoking." No decision will be made by the full Senate until the fall on whether to form the committee sought by Nolin. A proposal in 1996 - for a joint study by elected MPs and unelected senators - was scuttled by Liberals in the Commons. This time the idea is for the upper house to go it alone. Appearing with Nolin was Eugene Oscapella, of the Canadian Foundation for Drug Policy, who maintained that "more police, more guns, more prisons won't work." He pointed to the east side of Vancouver, where law-enforcement efforts have failed to hold down the death rate and spread of infectious disease among heroin addicts. "You could be maintained on heroin for the rest of your life and function quite normally if you had a clean, safe supply," said Oscapella. "The harm from heroin comes from the policy we have built around heroin in this country - that you have to buy it on the black market." New Democrat MP Libby Davies has proposed heroin maintenance trials, modeled on a Swiss program that supplies the drug to addicts, but the federal government has shown no enthusiasm. Health Minister Allan Rock has given the go-ahead for trial use of marijuana as a medical painkiller but has avoided talk of legalization for recreational use. The Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police backs decriminaliztion for possession of small amounts of pot, but only if Ottawa also introduces prevention, education and treatment programs. 
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Comment #2 posted by FoM on June 16, 1999 at 08:31:48 PT
Tory Senator Eyes Legalized Drugs!
Fed Pushes Dope Deal!Tory Senator Eyes Legalized Drugs!OTTAWA  A Tory senator wants the federal government to decriminalize drugs and take on the role of head pusher.Pierre Claude Nolin has asked fellow senators to set up a two-year committee to study drug use in Canada and look at which substances could be legalized."I would like to legalize the drugs that aren't harmful," Nolin said.He said that would let the Ottawa control the flow of drugs and cash on the Canadian black market which is worth an estimated $1.8 billion annually."Let's look at that problem, not from a criminal point of view, but from a social and health point of view," he suggested.Nolin hopes the committee's findings will encourage politicians to strike down criminal laws in favour of health policies.He suggested that politicians like Ontario Premier Mike Harris, who have shot down legalizing drugs, should keep close tabs on the committee's findings."I think Harris is not properly informed of the real (problems) of drug use in Canada or in Ontario," he said.Nolin's initiative comes on the heels of last week's launch of medicinal marijuana clinical trials by Health Minister Allan Rock.Nolin said that move proves Canadians are ready to follow other countries, like Switzerland, which have decriminalized drugs.The Swiss drug supply is now under government control. Doctors prescribe heroin for addicts, reducing thefts and deaths due to impure products. By STEPHANIE RUBEC, OTTAWA BUREAU
The Toronto Sun's Web Site
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Comment #1 posted by FoM on June 16, 1999 at 08:20:24 PT
Senator Proposes Drug-Use Study!
Here are a few more current articles on this same topic so I'm seeing what it would be like to post them in one thread!A Tory senator wants the feds to decriminalize drugs and place the supply of drugs under government control.Pierre Claude Nolin has asked fellow senators to set up a two-year committee to look at drug use in Canada and which substances could be legalized.He said that would let the government control the flow of drugs and cash in on the Canadian black market for drugs, worth an estimated $1.8 billion annually."Let's look at that problem not from a criminal point of view but from a social and health point of view," Nolin suggested.He hopes the committee's findings will encourage politicians to strike down criminal laws in favour of health policies.Nolin's initiative comes on the heels of last week's launch of medicinal marijuana clinical trials by Health Minister Allan Rock.Nolin said that move proves Canadians are ready to follow other countries, like Switzerland, which have decriminalized drugs. By STEPHANIE RUBEC, Parliamentary Bureau
Ottawa Sun's Web Site
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