This was sent to the Conservative Party in response to a bulletin circulated via email. I felt compelled to respond to some comments. Progressive Conservatism or Compassionate Conservatism or Middle of the Road Liberalism really is Canada's Political home - we are, in the main, an educated and open-minded lot.
RE: Conservative
Party Emailed Update: September 21, 2013 – Free Heroine
Let me premise comments by saying that I have supported your
government, and specifically Steven Harper’s leadership, for some time. My
support is born of the conservative planks of accountability, prudent fiscal conduct
and greater provincial control. Some inroads have been made on these fronts, but more is left to do. May I say that abolishing mandatory gun registration was a
most welcome event in Canada?
I am concerned, however, that a government that holds
accountability as a paramount concern, has failed to examine the effects of
past drug policy or is simply choosing to ignore the facts in an effort to
through red meat at the base. This sort of inflammatory rhetoric in no way
serves to inform the rational discourse on the subject, it serves to support old
biases.
I want to end up in a place where drugs are no longer
ravaging youth’s health and science, as opposed to emotion and unsubstantiated dogma
determine action. The conventional approach to criminalization and punishment
started some hundred years ago with what amounted to the “war on drugs”
approach, there are more varieties of drugs used and a greater volume of drugs
used today than 100 years ago – and the challenge is growing. WE HAVE FAILED –
IT IS TIME TO REGROUP AND REDIRECT.
With respect to your comments peculiar to free heroine;
addiction is a disease – it may be a disease that is a product of poor choices,
but a disease nonetheless. It costs an addict approximately $200 / day to
support their addiction, most steal to support themselves, and stolen goods when
fenced to the market capture about 10% of the face value of goods – this translates
into a $2000 / day in crime! Worse, the addiction drives extreme behaviour, as
people become more desperate they tend to become more violent. The judicial processes
have a difficult time managing the volume and we end up with a “revolving door”
court system, where breaking & entering in effect becomes a misdemeanour. When
you examine these realities rationally and set aside the desire to punish, the benefit
of the provision of heroin to addicts to society becomes clear; a benefit because
fewer people are subjected to violence, addicts come into the ambit of caregivers, police & courts are free to focus on reducing violent crime and it is
just cheaper.
Switzerland and other jurisdictions have enjoyed success
with these sorts of programs. When an addict is brought into treatment, you have
a marginalized, jobless – often criminal – human being with heroin addiction.
As time progresses, you have a non-criminal,
healthier human being with heroin addiction. Now less marginalized and
healthier, and because heroin when properly administered leaves people highly
functional, you now have someone able to contribute to society and pay for
their own supervised treatment. Perhaps now, with all the other social challenges
in hand, they are better able to work their way out of addiction. The old
methadone treatment programs or the really old cold turkey treatments have
extremely high failure rates and are in some cases punishing in their execution.
It is safe to assume, that addicts represent the lion’s share of
the revenue stream for the peddlers of heroin. The totality of our present
approach constrains the supply of heroin – constrained supply always translates
into the increased price for the product. Heroin is the ideal product, with highly
inelastic demand, the dealers know this; they know the value of a customer. In
a circumstance where heroin has a very high value, the incentive to garner
users is very high; our present modality of approach is failing to recognize
this fundamental economic reality and our young people are paying the price.
With the government, “treating” heroin users, the income stream dries up for
the dealers and with it the desire to sell heroin and to mutilate the lives of,
what are most often, vulnerable young people.
It is tempting when seeing the brutality visited on the affected, to
respond with brutality, or at least with brute force; we have to begin to work
smart, to use what we know about the economy and apply science to that task, and
paradoxically, to set “morality” to the side to get a moral outcome.
From a political perspective, your government needs to
remember Canada is in the majority a “progressive” nation, stray too far away
from companionate conservatism and you do so at your pearl. More effort on
accountability, more effort on fiscal responsibility, more effort on
constraining the growth of government and more work on reducing the red tape
that makes government the world’s biggest transaction cost. No little girl ever dreamed of being a heroin
addict prostitute, no little boy ever dreamed of being a heroin addict thief – they've
arrived there by a combination of circumstance and poor direction, no one ever
chooses to ruin the life of friends and family and their own – compassion is
warranted here and a new path is needed. This is a humanitarian concern, partisanism
has no place here, what works has a place here - let people work to find solutions, make policy
AND TRACK THE RESULTS, government needs to manage based on solid data as
opposed to rhetoric.
For more discourse on drug policy please see my blog – http://nthomson2.blogspot.ca
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