SNUD Committee Report

Supplementary Opinion
by the Bloc Quebecois

SPECIAL COMMITTEE
ON THE NON-MEDICAL USE OF DRUGS

The Bloc Quebecois would like to make a few observations in this supplementary opinion in order to clarify its views on the use of non-medical drugs.

The Bloc Quebecois MPs who participated in the Committee’s deliberations do not contest the great importance of the use of drugs and the problems of drug addiction. Drug addiction destroys lives, weakens families and poisons communities. It is responsible for suffering among children, parental anxiety, violence among certain individuals who become involved in organized crime and a loss of productivity on the part of those unable to do an honest day’s work, among other things. The Bloc Quebecois is well aware that all levels of government are concerned about the use of drugs. The Bloc Quebecois therefore supports the broad lines of the present report.

It would, however, like to reaffirm the fact that, while all are concerned by the problem of drugs, the provincial governments alone have constitutional jurisdiction to deliver health care to the public. While the federal government may claim this jurisdiction in the case of Native Peoples, penitentiary inmates and members of the Canadian armed forces, it is clear that, for the Bloc MPs, a new federal anti-drug strategy is to be implemented within these parameters.

A number of proposals in the present report concern the availability of care, the provision of treatment, needle exchanges and public health policies. It seems to us, with regard to these questions, that, while the federal government can indicate it would like a given province to take a certain approach, in the end, the provincial governments themselves will decide on the type of policy to adopt.

In short, the Bloc Québécois cannot agree to some future federal anti-drug policy being a factor in the definition of a single health care system in which the federal government, drawing on the recommendations of the National Forum on Health (1997), the Kirby report (2000-2002) or the Romanow Commission, interferes in the health care sector in areas from early childhood to palliative care. Especially since, from 1994 to date the federal government has cut $35 billion in health transfer payments to the provinces.

In addition to the jurisdictional matters we have mentioned, Bloc Quebecois support for a drug use intervention framework will depend on the acceptance of the following two principles:

1.         Application of the harm reduction strategy

For twenty years now, this intervention approach, which originated in Great Britain, has been a component of the Government of Quebec’s public policies on drugs. It provides that, while abstinence may certainly be the ideal, it may not be a realistic objective in all cases. It is better to ensure that drug addicts use drugs in safe conditions, first, and steps leading to abstinence may then be proposed.

2.         Reworking of the legislative framework

The Bloc Québécois believes that Chapter 9 on marijuana is the report’s weakest chapter. It cannot be overemphasized that 80 years of marijuana prohibition have not led to the achievement of the objectives set in public health and in the fight against organized crime.

The current legislative framework has contributed significantly to the emergence of a substantial illicit drug trade. The Auditor General of Canada estimated the illicit drug market’s sales in Canada at between $7 billion and $18 billion in 2000. It would appear that only 10% of the drugs circulating in Canada are seized by law enforcement agencies.

It is clear to the Bloc Quebecois that the criminal process currently in place for the simple possession of marijuana is outdated and retrograde. No one should end up with a police record simply for possessing cannabis. The list of difficulties caused by the establishment of a police record is long and includes denial of bail and problems clearing customs, obtaining citizenship and obtaining employment, etc. In this regard, the Bloc Quebecois fully supports recommendations 40 and 41, which refers to a comprehensive strategy for decriminalizing the possession of marijuana for personal use.

The Bloc Quebecois would also like to see some of the money from drug seizures allocated to public awareness and education programs. In addition, the Bloc Quebecois believes that the unstable and changing nature of organized crime combined with the fact that a number of test cases are currently before the courts, fully justifies having a committee of the House report on the various laws passed in the matter and develop recommendations to bring the Criminal Code more in line with the state of the underworld of the 2000s.

Bloc Quebecois MPs, like their colleagues, worked hard in committee deliberations and heard over 200 witnesses, read thousands of pages of expert opinions and travelled to major Canadian cities such as: Montreal, Ottawa, Vancouver, Toronto, Charlottetown, Halifax, Edmonton and Saskatoon. At the end of this work, we state in no uncertain terms that it would be a grave error, as are suggesting an element of the left in English Canada, the Nolin committee and parts of the present report, for the federal government to feel the need to head the fight against drug addiction and use.

First, it has been shown that the federal government managed its own anti-drug strategy between 1987 and 1998 very badly. In addition, the broad interventions required in the planning and development of an anti-drug policy are more closely associated with the education, treatment and development of awareness of marginalized clientele, areas all under provincial jurisdiction. This is very clear from an examination of the $104 million that Health Canada spends annually on drug addiction, which reveals that only $14 million of this figure is allocated to treatment and rehabilitation, and this money goes to the provinces. In short, of all the levels of government, the federal government has the least expertise in matters of drug addiction, except in the case of Native Peoples, penitentiaries and the Canadian armed forces.