"Criminal Justice and Drugs". Taught by Eugene Oscapella, University of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. December 2006.
Course Description
This course examines several issues relating to Canada's current laws prohibiting certain drugs:
I. the origins of Canada's drug laws and Canada's current drug laws and policies;
II. benefits and harms associated with the current drug laws and policies; and
III. possible alternative laws and policies.
The course will consist of lectures, audiovisual materials and, if possible, presentations by guest speakers. The course will also discuss current events relating to drug policy as they arise. The detailed description of the course topics follows.
I: Origins of Canada's Drug Laws and Policies, and Current Drug Laws and Policies
1. Laws on illegal drugs
a. Origins of drug prohibition in Canada
b. The role of language and drug-related "propaganda"
c. Is there a "war on drugs" in Canada?
d. Goals of our current laws and policies - Canada's Drug Strategy; Auditor General's report
e. Current laws and policies and reform initiatives
i. Offences
ii. Enforcement powers
f. International drug control treaties
g. Human rights treaties
2. Specific issues relating to current laws and policies
a. Syringe exchange
b. Drug paraphernalia
c. Sections 55 and 56 - Controlled Drugs and Substances Act
d. Special Access Programme
e. Specific types of maintenance programs
f. Medical marijuana regulations
g. Case law -- Ontario Court of Appeal, Supreme Court of Canada
h. Consequences of conviction -- criminal and other judicial records
i. Extended meaning of terms in legislation -- distortion of ordinary meaning of words, purpose of distortion
3. Rates of drug use
4. Offence rates
5. Legal, but regulated drugs
a. recreational drugs (including drugs in sports)
b. prescription pharmaceuticals
c. non-prescription pharmaceuticals (that may have recreational uses as well - codeine products)
6. Impact of the United States and United Nations on Canadian and international drug laws and policies
II: Benefits and Harms Associated with Current Drug Laws and Policies
1. Benefits claimed to flow from current laws and policies
a. Reduction in use
b. Prevention of crime
c. Protection of youth and the unborn
d. Moral message
e. Directing people to other, less harmful, drugs
f. A mechanism for the state to intervene to help those with drug problems
2. Possible harms associated with current drug policies and laws
a. No reduction in drug use, including substitution effects
b. Development of more potent forms of drugs
c. Violence - pharmacological, acquisitive, trade-related, militarization of policing
d. Consolidation, instead of separation of drug markets
e. Corruption
f. Disease
g. Wasted resources
h. Misleading education, leading to harm
i. Hostile attitudes towards users
j. Funding organized crime/terrorism, political instability, including international effects (Colombia, Asia)
k. Threat to civil liberties/distortion of legal system
i. expanded police powers - paramilitary policing, police violence
ii. reduced attention to rights for drug users
iii. privacy issues
iv. censorship
v. incarceration
vi. impact of attempts to link drug use (rather than drug prohibition) to terrorism
l. Directing people to more dangerous drugs (substitution) and more dangerous forms of drug use
m. Racism
n. Diversion of attention from possible underlying factors in harmful types of drug use
i. poverty
ii. abuse
iii. lack of employment opportunites
iv. stress
v. despair
vi. genetics?
vii. other environmental factors (e.g., peer pressure, lack of availability of safer drugs)
o. Diversion of attention from other mechanisms that could help users and prevent harm to society
p. Brutalization of society - acceptance of mistreatment of others (Pivot Legal Society Report, 2002)
q. Impact of criminal records
3. Ethical issues
4. Why some people and organizations support the present system.
a. Beneficiaries of the System
i. Direct - police, lawyers, prison builders, organized crime, terrorist groups, domestic and international bureaucracies,
ii. Indirect - politicians, pharmaceutical and alcohol and tobacco companies, weapons makers (e.g., Colombia)
iii. Moral entrepreneurs/authoritarians
b. Apathy/Ignorance
c. Propaganda leading to continued support for unsuccessful policies
d. Limiting the debate
i. Manderson's "meta law" and government commissions (e.g., 1996 Health Canada committee vs. Senate committee)
ii. Limiting access to the means to publicize (attempts to control the Internet, INCB report, US legislation)
e. Who is giving and who should be giving drug education?
III: Alternative Laws and Policies
1. The range of alternatives
2. Senate Special Committee on Illegal Drugs; House of Commons Special Committee on Non-medical use of drugs; cannabis reform proposals by government; medical cannabis
3. Special treatment of youth
4. Harm reduction
5. International experiences
6. Strategies in the debate about reform
Reading List
Alexander, Peaceful Measures: Canada's Way Out of the 'War on Drugs' (1990)
Mitchell, The Drug Solution (1990)
Christie, Crime Control as Industry (3d ed. 2000)
Miller, Drug Warriors and Their Prey: From Police Power to Police State (1996)
Duke and Gross, America's Longest War (1993)
Riley et al., "Harm Reduction: Concepts and Practice," in Substance Use and Misuse
P. Erickson, "Recent Trends in Canadian Drug Policy," Daedalus, Summer 1992
Zimmer and Morgan, Marijuana Myths, Marijuana Facts (1997)
Bewley-Taylor, The United States and International Drug Control, 1909-1997 (1999)
Mauer, The Race to Incarcerate (1999)
Gray, Why our Drug Laws Have Failed
Husak, Legalize This! The case for decriminalizing drugs (2002)
Davenport-Hines, The Pursuit of Oblivion: A Global History of Narcotics, 1500-2000 (2001)
Carnwath and Smith, Heroin Century (2002)
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