Canada’s Anti-Drug Strategy Gets Mixed Reviews

October 4, 2007 (Toronto) - Canada’s new anti-drug strategy gets mixed reviews from researchers and clinicians at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH), Canada’s largest mental health and addictions facility.

“We are pleased that the government recognizes the seriousness of substance abuse in Canada,” said Dr. Louis Gliksman, CAMH’s Head of Research and an international expert in substance abuse. “Importantly, the Minister has committed increased resources to the prevention and treatment of substance abuse across the country. This will promote health and improve access to currently scarce treatment for those dealing with drug dependence.”

However, the federal government’s heightened focus on the enforcement of laws against illicit drugs overlooks a critical element of Canada’s substance abuse problem: the vast majority of health and social consequences relate to the use of drugs that are legally produced.

“The Minister’s announcement today focused on enforcement efforts to confront high-profile drugs that are illegally produced or smuggled into Canada. Even if such an approach were entirely successful, how does this help society confront the much more costly and harmful consequences of alcohol, which is legally produced, legally sold to adults, and largely available?” asked Dr. Gliksman. “How does this help confront the consequences of pharmaceutical drugs, which are legally produced, but used in ways that are not anticipated?”

The social cost of alcohol use to Canadians has been recently calculated to be $14.6 billion, almost twice that of illegal drugs which cost $8.2 billion.

The federal government’s apparent lack of support for harm reduction strategies is also troubling to researchers and clinicians. Harm reduction strategies are designed to reduce drug-related harm to the individual and the community without requiring the cessation of drug use. Evidence-based harm reduction such as needle-exchange programs has proven to be one important tool for reaching populations that abuse drugs-- improving their health, often engaging users in treatment, and positively affecting the community at large. And European countries that have explicit harm reduction programs have found that it has not led to increased acceptance of illicit drug use.

“Given the scope of the substance abuse problem, the federal government should be providing communities with all the tools they need to confront substance use,” said Dr. Gliksman.

For more information, media please contact Michael Torres, Media Relations, CAMH at (416) 595-6015.

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The Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) is Canada’s leading addiction and mental health teaching hospital. Integrating clinical care, scientific research, education, policy development and health promotion, CAMH transforms the lives of people impacted by mental health and addiction issues.