Canada’s renewed drug strategy lacks accountability: review

published on January 15, 2007

(Vancouver) – An informal audit of Canada’s Drug Strategy has led to a critical report published today in the HIV/AIDS Policy and Law Review.

The study, based partially on figures obtained through freedom-of-information requests, demonstrates that the majority of federal funding is directed to strategies scientifically shown to be ineffective and lacking little, if any, evaluation.

When the renewed drug strategy was implemented in 2003, a federal government report promised to use “measurable indicators of performance and to report every two years to parliament and Canadians on the progress made by Canada's Drug Strategy.” However, no reports or evaluations have been made available so far, says the evidence-based review authored by the B.C. Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS.

Treasury Board accounting documents indicate that of the $368 million spent in 2004-2005 on addressing illicit drugs, 73% ($271 million) was targeted towards law-enforcement initiatives. The remaining small piece of the pie was split among several initiatives, including treatment (14%, $51 million), research (7%, $26 million), prevention (2.6%, $10 million), and harm-reduction related programs (2.6%, $10 million).

The findings contradict the prevalent belief that Canada spends a higher proportion of drug funding on harm reduction, says Dr. Julio Montaner, one of the review’s senior authors and Director of the B.C. Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS.

“Current federal spending on scientifically proven initiatives which target HIV/AIDS and other serious harms is insignificant compared to the funds devoted to law enforcement,” says Montaner. “However, while harm-reduction interventions supported through the drug strategy are being held to an extraordinary standard of proof, those receiving the greatest proportion of funding remain under-evaluated or have already proven to be ineffective.”

Although funding of law enforcement-based initiatives has decreased from 95% in 2001, Canada's Drug Strategy has been slow to respond to the growing body of scientific evidence indicating that many of the harms associated with illicit drugs are due to enforcement-based policies and practices. Evidence indicates that incarceration is associated with HIV infection among injection drug users. Estimates suggest that approximately 20 percent of HIV infections among injection drug users in Vancouver have been acquired in prison.

The review specifically raises alarms about policy-changes being proposed by the federal government, says co-author and Centre investigator Dr. Thomas Kerr.

“The proposed Americanization of the drug strategy towards entrenching a heavy-handed approach that relies on law enforcement will be a disaster” says Kerr, “It is as if the federal government is willing to ignore a mountain of science to pursue an ideological agenda.”

The lack of decisive action to ensure that vital public health services exist across the country is another critical shortcoming of Canada's Drug Strategy. Because health care in Canada is a provincial responsibility, the majority of prevention, treatment and harm-reduction measures have been left to provincial authorities to attend. However, no federal body has been monitoring how, or if, provinces are providing these services.

The report shows Canada’s Drug Strategy has also clearly failed to stem the numbers of Canadians trying illicit drugs: In 1994, 28.5% of Canadians reported having consumed illicit drugs in their life; by 2004, that figure had jumped to 45%. Canada’s Drug Strategy must be held to account for its allocation of prevention funding, underlines the study. For instance, Drug Abuse Resistance Education (DARE) is one of the primary recipients of federal funding despite research showing the school-based prevention program has repeatedly proved to be ineffective in preventing or delaying drug use.

“If Canada wants to fulfill it mission of reducing the most severe harms associated with illicit drug use, steps must now be taken to implement a truly evidence-based national drug strategy rather than shoveling millions of dollars towards these failed programs,” says Kerr.

The feature article, “Canada’s 2003 renewed drug strategy — an evidence-based review,” appears in the current issue of the HIV/AIDS Policy and Law Review, published by the Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network, with the collaboration of the American Bar Association. The issue is available on-line at www.aidslaw.ca/review.

BC Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS

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Canada’s renewed drug strategy lacks accountability: review

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