Abstract
Internationally, illegal drug use remains a major public health problem. In response, many countries have begun to shift their illegal drug policies away from enforcement and towards public health objectives. Recently, both the Global Commission on Drug Policy and the Supreme Court of Canada have endorsed this change in direction, supporting empirically sound illegal drug policies that reduce criminalization and stigmatization of drug users and bolster treatment and harm reduction efforts. Until recently, Canada was a participant in this growing movement towards rational drug policy. Unfortunately, in recent years, policy changes have made Canada one of the few remaining advocates of a “war-on-drugs” approach. Indeed, the current government has implemented a number of new illegal drug policies that contradict well-established scientific evidence from public health, criminology and other fields. As such, their approach is expected to do little to reduce the harms associated with substance use in Canada. The authors call on the current government to heed the recommendations of the Global Commission’s report and learn from the many countries that are innovating in illegal drug policy by prioritizing evidence, human rights and public health.
Keywords: Illegal drug policy, harm reduction, human rights, substance use
Résumé
La consommation de drogue continue à poser un grave problème de santé publique à l’échelle mondiale. En réaction, de nombreux pays commencent à réorienter leurs politiques de lutte contre les drogues illicites, passant d’une optique d’application de la loi à une optique axée sur des objectifs de santé publique. Dernièrement, la Global Commission on Drug Policy et la Cour suprême du Canada ont avalisé ce changement d’orientation en appuyant des politiques antidrogue empiriquement fiables qui réduisent la criminalisation et la stigmatisation des utilisateurs de drogue et renforcent les mesures de traitement et de réduction des méfaits. Jusqu’à récemment, le Canada faisait partie de ce mouvement croissant pour une politique antidrogue rationnelle. Malheureusement, ces dernières années, des changements d’orientation ont fait du Canada l’un des rares derniers porte-parole de l’approche de la «guerre contre la drogue». En fait, le gouvernement actuel met en œuvre un certain nombre de nouvelles politiques antidrogue qui sont en contradiction avec des preuves scientifiques bien établies dans les domaines de la santé publique, de la criminologie et autres. Il est peu probable qu’une telle approche réduise les préjudices associés à la consommation de substances au Canada. Les auteurs invitent le gouvernement actuel à prendre au sérieux les recommandations du rapport de la Global Commission et à tirer des leçons de l’expérience des nombreux pays qui innovent en matière de politique antidrogue en accordant la priorité aux données probantes, aux droits humains et à la santé publique.
Mots clés: contrôle drogues et stupéfiants, réduction des méfaits, droits humains, consommation de substances
Footnotes
Conflict of Interest: None to declare.
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