Liberal MPs urge gov’t to consider decriminalization of illicit drugs
Posted January 17, 2018 6:22 am.
Last Updated January 17, 2018 7:39 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
OTTAWA (NEWS 1130) – A group of Liberal MPs are pushing the government to eliminate criminal penalties for simple possession and consumption of all illicit drugs.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has so far drawn the line at pot legalization, but is being pressured to go much further in a resolution to be considered at the federal party’s national policy convention in April in Halifax.
It is one of 39 resolutions that the party has opened up for online discussion.
Others call for the decriminalization of prostitution, a minimum guaranteed income, expanding universal health care to include prescription drug coverage and building a fixed-link bridge from the mainland to Newfoundland and Labrador.
On illegal drugs, the caucus resolution urges the government to adopt the model instituted in 2001 in Portugal.
Treatment and harm reduction services were expanded there and criminal penalties were eliminated for low-level possession and consumption of all illicit drugs.
The resolution says since Portugal adopted the new approach, the number of deaths from drug overdoses has dropped significantly, and the number of people arrested and sent to criminal courts has fallen by 60 per cent.
“I think it’s a positive step. I think that governments and our elected officials are waking up to the reality of the failure of the war on drugs,” says Akwasi Owusu-Bempah, an assistant sociology professor at the University of Toronto.
“I would characterize the Portugal model as a success without a doubt, in terms of the management of use as well as reducing the criminalization.”
He says the pending legalization of marijuana in Canada in July, is a positive step.
“The approach that we’ve taken in terms of prohibiting drug possession has not been successful. Our rates of use have not declined over the time that we’ve been waging this war on drugs. To me, this is a positive step that that’s being recognized. We need to not only recognize that it has been a failure in terms of not curtailing use (of drugs), but also recognize the harms that have been done by prohibition in terms of what that means for users of drugs and the amount of money spent on law enforcement associated with prohibition.”
Online discussion of the resolutions will run until February 14th.
