Free public dialogue on drug policy.

 

The evening of May 15th at 7pm (SFU Woodwards).

 

The event will be a public forum/dialogue featuring a panel of international experts on drug policy looking at a future beyond prohibition where we examine various models of legal regulation of substances—what that would look like, how these models would work, and the impact they would have on society more generally. We’re hoping to answer the quesion: In a post-prohibition system, what needs to be done to remedy the harms to victims of the war on drugs and how do we create a just, healthy, and safe system moving forward.

 

Free ticket link: https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/systems-change-envisioning-a-canada-beyond-prohibition-registration-61066972960

 

But, if you’re sharing via Facebook, please use this link: https://www.facebook.com/events/1051974135013199

 

Moderator:

·      Garth Mullins, Writer, Award-Winning Broadcaster, and Activist

 

Panelist:

·      Steve Rolles, Senior Policy Analyst, Transform Drug Policy Foundation (UK)

·      Akwasi Owusu-Bempah, Assistant Professor, Sociology, University of Toronto

·      Suzanne Fraser, Professor, Public Health, Curtin University (Australia)

·      Zara Snapp, Co-founder, Instituto RIA (Mexico)

 

Questions to:

Peter Kim

he/him/his

Strategic Communications Manager

Canadian Drug Policy Coalition

 

Simon Fraser University

Centre for Applied Research in Mental Health & Addiction

2400-515 West Hastings Street

Vancouver, BC  V6B 5K3

Tel: 604-787-4043

Email: peter_k@sfu.ca

Social: @peterkimdata

 

I acknowledge that the land on which we gather is the unceded territory of the Coast Salish Peoples, including the territories of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh Nations.

 

Top health officer calls on B.C. to 'urgently' decriminalize possession of illicit drugs
CBC News
April 24, 2019

 

We are working to transform our country's approach to drug policy. Français »   Dear Friends of MAPS,  The Canadian Drug Policy Coalition (CDPC) is launching a ground-breaking engagement initiative across Canada! Over the next three years, we will be working with communities to improve public understanding of drug policy, promote a public health and human rights-based approach to drugs, and develop momentum for sustained and coordinated efforts to improve responses to harms related to substance use and public policies. To help us reach our goals, we are seeking a Public Engagement Manager.  Please circulate widely. The deadline to apply is February 15, 2019. Click here for full job description   Sincerely, Donald MacPherson and the CDPC Team     Cher(ère) Friends of MAPS, La Coalition canadienne des politiques sur les drogues (CCPD) lance une initiative d'engagement à travers le Canada! Au cours des trois prochaines années, nous travaillerons avec les communautés pour améliorer la compréhension du public sur la politique de drogue et les politiques publiques. Pour nous aider à atteindre nos objectifs, nous recherchons un directeur ou une directrice d'engagement publique.   Cliquez ici pour la description complète du poste.   S'il vous plaît circuler la poste. La date limite pour appliquer est le 15 février 2019.   Merci beaucoup, Donald MacPherson et l'équipe CCPD   Canadian Drug Policy Coalition Centre for Applied Research in Mental Health and Addiction 2400 515 West Hastings St, Simon Fraser University, Vancouver, BC V6B 5K3, Canada This email was sent to info@mapscanada.org. To stop receiving emails, click here.   Created with NationBuilder, the essential toolkit for leaders.

 

 

From: Donald MacPherson [mailto:mail@drugpolicy.ca]
Sent: Monday, January 7, 2019 5:15 PM
To: Mark Haden <mark@markhaden.com>
Subject: Job Posting: Strategic Communications Manager

 

We are working to transform our country's approach to drug policy. Français »   Dear Mark,  The Canadian Drug Policy Coalition (CDPC) is launching a ground-breaking engagement initiative across Canada! Over the next three years, we will be working with communities to improve public understanding of drug policy, promote a public health and human rights-based approach to drugs, and develop momentum for sustained and coordinated efforts to improve responses to harms related to substance use and public policies. To help us reach our goals, we are seeking a Strategic Communications Manager who is experienced in public engagement, strategic communications planning, media relations, stakeholder communications, and website and social media development. Please circulate widely. The deadline to apply is January 25, 2019. Click here for full job description   Sincerely, Donald MacPherson and the CDPC Team     Cher(ère) Mark, La Coalition canadienne des politiques sur les drogues (CCPD) lance une initiative d'engagement à travers le Canada! Au cours des trois prochaines années, nous travaillerons avec les communautés pour améliorer la compréhension du public sur la politique de drogue et les politiques publiques. Pour nous aider à atteindre nos objectifs, nous recherchons un directeur ou une directrice des communications expérimenté dans les domaines de l'engagement du public, de la planification des communications stratégiques, des relations avec les médias, et du développement de sites web et de médias sociaux. Cliquez ici pour la description complète du poste.  S'il vous plaît circuler la poste. La date limite pour appliquer est le 25 janvier 2019.   Merci beaucoup, Donald MacPherson et l'équipe CCPD   Canadian Drug Policy Coalition Centre for Applied Research in Mental Health and Addiction 2400 515 West Hastings St, Simon Fraser University, Vancouver, BC V6B 5K3, Canada This email was sent to mark@markhaden.com. To stop receiving emails, click here.   Created with NationBuilder, the essential toolkit for leaders.

 

 

From: Briggs, Jessica (HC/SC) [mailto:jessica.briggs@canada.ca] On Behalf Of Mattison, Kirsten (HC/SC)
Sent: Wednesday, September 5, 2018 2:04 PM
Cc: Hodges, Ian (HC/SC) <ian.hodges@canada.ca>; Boudreau, Michelle (HC/SC) <michelle.boudreau@canada.ca>
Subject: Canadian Drugs and Substances Strategy (CDSS) Consultation Launch/Lancement de la consultation publique concernant la Stratégie canadienne sur les drogues et autres substances (SCDAS)

 

Hello all,

 

I am writing to inform you that as of today, Health Canada has launched a public consultation on potential next steps in the Canadian Drugs and Substances Strategy (CDSS). We would like to invite valued stakeholders, including you or your organization, to provide feedback on this consultation.

 

The purpose of this consultation is to engage Canadians on new and innovative ideas on how to further strengthen the federal government’s approach to substance use issues through the CDSS. The consultation will last for 90 days, closing on December 4, 2018, and we encourage you to participate. We would also appreciate you sharing this email amongst your networks so that we may reach as many interested Canadians as possible.

 

Below you will find a link to the consultation website, where you will be able to undertake a survey to provide your feedback on the CDSS.  This survey is based on key themes, including:

·         Taking action on the root causes and risk factors of problematic substance use

·         Reducing stigma towards people who use drugs

·         Improving access to comprehensive, evidence-based treatment services

·         Applying a public health lens to regulation and enforcement activities

 

Here is the link: Canada.ca/substance-use-consultation

 

We are also attaching electronic copies of postcards and posters to this email announcing the CDSS consultation to the public. We would greatly appreciate if you would post and share these materials in your workspace to help Health Canada gather as many ideas as possible through the CDSS consultation process. Should you wish to receive hard copies to distribute amongst your networks, please feel free to reply to this email.  

 

Thank you in advance for your participation in this consultation. Your unique perspective will be vital to the further development of the CDSS as a health-focussed approach to problematic substance use in Canada.

 

Sincerely,

 

Kirsten Mattison

Director - Drug Policy and Science

Controlled Substances Directorate

Health Canada / Government of Canada

 

Bonjour,

 

Je vous écris pour vous informer que Santé Canada a lancé aujourd’hui une consultation publique sur les prochaines étapes possibles de la Stratégie canadienne sur les drogues et autres substances (SCDAS). Nous aimerions inviter les intervenants importants, y compris vous ou votre organisation, à nous faire part de leurs commentaires sur cette consultation.

 

Cette consultation vise à consulter les Canadiens au sujet des idées nouvelles et novatrices sur la façon de renforcer davantage l’approche du gouvernement fédéral à l’égard des problèmes de la consommation problématique de substances par l’entremise de la SCDAS. La consultation durera 90 jours et se terminera le 4 décembre 2018, et nous vous encourageons à y participer. Nous vous saurions également gré de partager ce courriel auprès de vos réseaux afin que nous puissions rejoindre le plus grand nombre possible de Canadiens intéressés.

 

Vous trouverez ci-dessous un lien vers le site Web de la consultation, où vous pourrez répondre à un sondage sur la SCDAS.  Ce sondage est fondé sur les thèmes clés suivants :

• Prendre des mesures pour s’attaquer aux causes fondamentales de la consommation problématique de substances et aux facteurs de risque qui y sont associés
• Réduire la stigmatisation des personnes qui consomment des drogues
• Améliorer l’accès à des services de traitement complets et fondés sur des données probantes
• Considérer les activités de réglementation et d’application de la loi dans une optique de santé publique

 

Voici le lien: Canada.ca/consultation-consommation-substances

 

J’ajoute également à ce courriel des copies électroniques des cartes postales et des affiches annonçant au public la consultation au sujet de la SCDAS. Je vous serais reconnaissante de bien vouloir publier et partager ces documents dans vos locaux afin de nous aider à recueillir le plus d’idées possible par l’entremise de cette consultation.  Si vous désirez obtenir les cartes postales et les affiches en copies papier, veuillez me le laisser savoir en répondant à ce courriel.

 

Je vous remercie d’avance de votre participation à cette consultation. Votre point de vue sera déterminant pour la poursuite de l’élaboration de la SCDAS comme approche prospective de la consommation problématique de substances au Canada.

 

Cordialement,

 

Kirsten Mattison

Directrice – Bureau de la politique et de la science en matière de drogues

Direction des substances contrôlées

Sant

Here is a link to the drug arrest report Susan Boyd put together.

 

http://drugpolicy.ca/about/publications/

 

 

 

We are working to transform our country's approach to drug policy. Français »   Good Morning! If you were not able to make it to Dr. Susan Boyd's book launch in January, or perhaps you loved it so much you want all your friends to know about it - here is your chance! CDPC's Steering Committee member Dr. Susan Boyd is offering a free talk tomorrow night at the Vancouver Public Library on Canada's History of Drug Prohibition.  Tuesday, March 6, 2018 7:00 PM PM Vancouver Public Library: Central Library 350 W. Georgia St. Alice MacKay Room, Lower Level Free, everyone welcome! Human and social development professor Susan Boyd shares from her latest book – an illustrated history of drug prohibition in Canada from the 1800s to present day. Boyd discusses the 'reefer madness' of the 1920s, the psychedelic movement of the 1960s, the harm reduction movement of the 1990s, the legalization of medical cannabis, and how drug laws influence the overdose crisis. Susan Boyd shows how Canada's drug prohibition policies evolved and were shaped by race, class and gender discrimination. In order to chart the future, it is worthwhile for us as Canadians to know our history of prohibition. You can find the book here.  Have a wonderful week, Your small but mighty CDPC team   Canadian Drug Policy Coalition Centre for Applied Research in Mental Health and Addiction 2400 515 West Hastings St, Simon Fraser University, Vancouver, BC V6B 5K3, Canada This email was sent to mark@markhaden.com. To stop receiving emails, click here.   Created with NationBuilder, the essential toolkit for leaders.

Book Launch:

Busted

By Susan Boyd

See attached

 

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/pot-legislation-does-not-fail-canadas-youth-a-criminal-record-does/article35268868/

 

Pot legislation does not fail Canada’s youth. A criminal record does

JENNA VALLERIANI and REBECCA HAINES-SAAH

Special to The Globe and Mail

Published Saturday, Jun. 10, 2017 8:00AM EDT

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Jenna Valleriani is a strategic adviser for Canadian Students for Sensible Drug Policy and a PhD candidate at the University of Toronto. Rebecca Haines-Saah is an assistant professor in the Department of Community Health Sciences at the University of Calgary.

On May 29, the Canadian Medical Association Journal released an editorial criticizing the government’s approach to the protection of youth in the proposed Cannabis Act. The legislation, which was introduced in April, will create a legal regulated market for adult access to non-medical cannabis in Canada. The editorial took issue with the Act’s mandated minimum age of at least 18. It argued that the minimum age should be raised to 21 and use restricted until age 25, concluding with: “If Parliament truly cares about the public health and safety of Canadians, especially our youth, this bill will not pass.”

This is part of an ongoing narrative which misrepresents what it means to take a “public health approach” to drug regulation. While not neglecting individual and population-level health protection measures, fundamental to a public health approach is an emphasis on the costs of having a criminal record for cannabis possession for young Canadians, especially when criminal charges are unequally distributed amongst black and Indigenous youth, and youth who have socioeconomic disadvantages.

As outlined by the Federal Task Force, the rationale for legalization is not solely about individual-level health outcomes as potential “harms,” but also the social and legal harms associated with criminalization and prohibition. Rather than point the hypothetical finger to the “tragedies” of “lives derailed” and continuing to anchor the idea of risk solely within the individual, the author neglects the social complexities – and multiple risk factors – of how problematic use of any substance develops for youth. As we currently find ourselves in the middle of an overdose epidemic in Canada where young people are dying in unprecedented numbers, we need to critically assess our approach, face uncomfortable truths, and ask who we are actually protecting with the prohibition of drugs.

We shouldn’t ignore that Canadian young people currently have the highest prevalence of use compared to other countries under our current model of drug control which, in theory, is meant to completely restrict youth access. In reality, it creates a robust and unregulated market with easy access for all ages. While it’s easy to declare that young people simply shouldn’t use cannabis, it is well documented that this isn’t a realistic or successful approach to drug prevention. The logic is flawed when our answers point only to restrictions and abstinence, and leaves out evidence-based drug education that includes equipping adolescents with strategies to avoid harmful use, beyond a focus on abstinence-only.

A critical misrepresentation in such medicalized arguments to prevent potential “harms to the developing brain” is that the evidence has yet to conclusively establish cannabis as the sole cause of structural changes to the brain associated with diminished cognitive outcomes for youth. In most studies, the effects of cannabis use are almost always comorbid with alcohol and other drug use, and often related to differences in socioeconomic status – which have potential impacts on brain development in and of themselves. Firm conclusions that cannabis by itself is explicitly damaging to the developing brain are difficult to assess. A similar lack of evidence exists to suggest cannabis is a primary cause in the development of schizophrenia. Rather, cannabis may be one of several risk factors, or these outcomes could be a reflection of pre-existing differences which lead some young people to more substance use and risk-taking behaviours. What is continually overlooked is that the majority of young people who use cannabis do not experience these severe, negative effects.

It is frustrating to observe that in discussions about youth and cannabis use, the professional bodies that speak for the medical community in Canada have continually neglected an issue that is at the very crux of the need for drug policy reform: setting regulations which give equal weight to the “real life” harms and lifelong societal costs of criminalization. It should not be forgotten that the actual targets of this discussion are young adults (i.e. not children), who fall between the ages of 18-25 – adults by every marker of society. Setting high age limits on access and telling young people to “just say no” will not accomplish either goal of deterring youth use or reducing harms as this is simply doing more of the same that created our current situation. By now it should be abundantly clear that we do not share the pessimism – or the fears – expressed by the CMAJ editorial. Rather, we believe that legal regulation of cannabis provides a context for having new and different conversations with the young people we care about, using approaches that respect the agency of young adults to make informed decisions.

 

http://globalnews.ca/news/3329500/will-teens-smoke-more-pot-when-its-legal-they-didnt-in-this-u-s-state/