SNUD Committee Report

CHAPTER 1: MANDATE OF THE COMMITTEE

On May 17, 2001, the House of Commons gave the Special Committee on Non-Medical Use of Drugs a very broad mandate to study “the factors underlying or relating to the non-medical use of drugs in Canada” and to bring forward recommendations aimed at reducing “the dimensions of the problem involved in such use.” The Committee subsequently adopted Terms of Reference that can be found in Appendix B of this report. On April 17, 2002, the mandate of the Committee was expanded when the House of Commons, by order of reference, added the subject matter of Private Member’s Bill C-344, An Act to amend the Contraventions Act and the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act (marihuana).¹ Because the first session of the 37th Parliament was prorogued on September 16, 2002, the House of Commons moved to re-appoint the Special Committee on Non-Medical Use of Drugs, on October 7, 2002, with the same mandate and membership as the original. The work of this Committee marks the House of Commons’ first attempt to fashion a comprehensive policy response to the legal, social and health implications of the non-medical use of drugs, since the appointment of the Le Dain Commission over 30 years ago.²

The creation and mandate of the Special Committee on Non-Medical Use of Drugs followed a full day of debate on a motion introduced by Randy White, M.P. (Langley—Abbotsford). A review of the Hansard Report from that day reveals the non-medical use of drugs to be an important non-partisan issue having a serious impact on all regions of Canada. Although the prevalence of marijuana use was raised in the discussion, Members of the House of Commons were clearly concerned about all illicit drugs, including heroin, cocaine, and ecstasy, as well as overdose deaths and other serious health consequences of injection drug use. Unlike the study on marijuana being conducted at that time by the Special Senate Committee on Illegal Drugs, the debates on the motion made clear that the House of Commons wished this Committee to take a broader view of the illicit drug problem and to examine all aspects of Canadian drug policy, including Canada’s Drug Strategy, the effectiveness of existing prevention efforts, and what is being done to address linkages with organized crime.

Since September 2001, the Committee has met with more than 200 individuals in a variety of locations, including Ottawa, Montreal, Vancouver, Abbotsford, Toronto, Burlington, Charlottetown, Halifax, Edmonton and Saskatoon. Scores of researchers, academics, treatment providers, policy experts, and volunteers from across Canada presented evidence. Many appeared in their capacity as individuals, while others represented advocacy groups, law enforcement organizations, government departments, and non-governmental agencies. The names of persons who appeared before the Committee can be found in Appendix C of this report. The Committee also received written submissions from many groups and individuals whose names are listed in Appendix D of this report. Finally, the Committee visited treatment centres and low-threshold services across the country, inspected some of the busiest border control facilities in Canada, and traveled to the United States and Europe in order to consult with addictions experts, research institutes, politicians, law enforcement agencies, and senior government officials, and to experience first-hand, the impact of some of their more innovative treatment regimes. In addition to encouraging Members of the House of Commons to hold public consultations within their own ridings and report on their findings, the Committee also invited provincial and territorial Ministers of Health to participate in its study, either in person or by written submission.

Although this report specifically addresses the most egregious matters encountered, Committee members agree that the non-medical use of drugs in Canada is a pervasive and growing problem that must be answered with sustained, broad-based, adequately funded policy initiatives that can be applied to all substances of abuse, regardless of their source, effect or legal status. Consequently, in addition to making specific recommendations, this report sets out a plan for achieving a renewed federal drug strategy that draws on the considerable body of knowledge and expertise already existing in Canada, while proposing extensive improvements in clinical and social research, program evaluation, data collection, and resource allocation in order to revitalize the federal government’s role in responding to the challenges posed by the non-medical use of drugs in Canada.

During its meetings and visits, the Special Committee on Non-Medical Use of Drugs heard evidence relating to a host of licit and illicit substances, as well as the people most affected by them. Three decades after the final report of the Le Dain Commission, the Committee was shocked and saddened to learn that the associated health and social devastation continues, to the extent that substance abuse is linked to one in five deaths in Canada.³

When you know at the street level that there is not enough treatment you get angry at seeing money being spent to punish those who can’t get into treatment. When you see staggering amounts of money being spent for treatments that either don’t work or are geared to control rather than help, you want to scream out your frustrations. When you see people making money off of the misery of the addicted and nothing has changed you want answers.⁴

It is the Committee’s fervent hope that its work will make a difference to those at the street level.