First of all, thank you for hearing me and for making this facility available, as I was not able to travel to Ottawa to speak to you in person. I am representing the Drug Prevention Network of Canada. I am currently the vice-president of that organization and a member of the International Task Force on Strategic Drug Policy.
The Drug Prevention Network of Canada was formed in 2005 to serve the Canadian population on a national level. We are dedicated to working with like-minded organizations and individuals to advance abstinence-based drug and alcohol treatment and recovery programs to promote a healthy lifestyle free of drugs. We are equally dedicated to opposing the legalization of drugs in Canada. We are very involved with the new national youth substance abuse prevention program. I co-chair the national advisory committee on that.
The International Task Force is a network of professionals and community leaders from across the globe who support and promote effective drug demand reduction principles and strive to advance communication and cooperation among non-government organizations who are working to stem illicit drug use and promote sound drug policy around the world. Both of these organizations believe in the need for a comprehensive drug policy that includes prevention, treatment, and enforcement.
I retired from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police in 2007, after serving for more than 35 years. For over 30 of those years, I worked in various sections within the drug enforcement branch, all in the Vancouver area. My experience includes working undercover, long-term conspiracy investigations, drug intelligence, and drug prevention. The last 12 years were spent in charge of the drug awareness program in British Columbia. As such, I was involved in many discussions about the impact of drug abuse on society and the strategies to reduce both the demand and supply of drugs. I have represented the RCMP on a number of committees over the years at the community, provincial, and national levels.
I do not profess to be an expert on the effectiveness of mandatory minimum sentences on reducing drug abuse. However, I can tell you what I have learned from my experience. Things have changed from when I first started in drug enforcement in 1977. Over those 30 years, I saw the sentences for drug offences getting progressively weaker. At the same time, I saw the problems related to drug abuse getting progressively larger. I also saw the drug scene in downtown Vancouver increase as the enforcement efforts in that area decreased. From my perspective, I do not see how anyone could possibly examine the past 30 years and make a case that weaker sentences lead to less damaging social consequences. My experience is that the more lenient we got, the more problems we got. I also believe that other countries have experienced the same thing, and I would like to make a comparison.
I have travelled to the Netherlands, Germany, and to Sweden to observe the drug situations in those countries. It seems to me we should be looking at Sweden as the model for successful drug policy. The problems related to drug abuse are lower in Sweden than they are in the Netherlands, Germany, or Canada. Yet we have been encouraged by some to follow the policies of the Netherlands and Germany rather than those of Sweden.
In Sweden, after a period of less restrictive drug policy and increased drug use, they achieved their success in lowering drug use by getting more restrictive with their policy. At the same time, they increased their efforts in prevention and treatment. The key to their success was their effort to strike a balance between prevention and treatment while maintaining a strong policy of enforcement. In Sweden, when they arrest someone for a drug offence, they introduce that person to a drug treatment worker before he or she is released. Although not common, if it is deemed necessary for the health of the person, that person can be forced into drug treatment. Getting those addicted to drugs into treatment is essential in order to reduce the related problems in our society.
This can be done in a number of ways. One way is through the drug treatment courts. While it is important to put drug traffickers in prison for an appropriate amount of time, it is also important to get those addicted to drugs into treatment. While I have not done any studies to determine the effectiveness of the drug courts, I have spoken to addicts who have graduated from the drug treatment courts. Their opinion of why they were successful in reaching abstinence through the drug court system, when they had failed before, was because of the continuous monitoring by their caseworker. The caseworker follows them to pick them up and put them back on track when they have fallen off. This does not happen through the regular health care system. I believe that the drug court system is a good way to get drug addicts who break the law into treatment.
We only have to make sure we have enough drug treatment courts available wherever needed, and that there are enough treatment facilities available to handle the need. It is very important, and I would caution that there be enough treatment also available for those addicts who are not in the drug court system, as we would not want to create a situation where people are tempted to commit an offence simply to get treatment.
In Canada we have been influenced by the international harm reduction movement, which would have us believe that the drug laws cause more harm than the drugs do. This influence seems to have reached the judges, who have become progressively more lenient with their sentences. One gets the impression they are more concerned about the individual drug user than they are to the harm caused to society or to specific family members.
Drug-endangered children are a real concern that we are only starting to address in this country. While taking an addicted parent away from a child may seem tragic, one has to compare this to the harm caused by leaving a child in a situation where they are being neglected or harmed by the environment of the severe drug abuse.
I agree that an addicted person needs treatment. However, that treatment may have to come along with a prison sentence when appropriate. While I agree that putting an addict into prison without treatment is a mistake, it is also a mistake not to have a meaningful sentence for those who make their living from contributing to the misery of others.
This is especially true when dealing with members of organized criminal gangs. These gang members, who are not addicted to drugs, are very aware of the risks and consequences involved in trafficking in the different places throughout the country, just as they know the sentences are lower in Canada than they are in the United States. They also know the sentences are weaker in Vancouver than elsewhere in Canada.
One of the main reasons that so many gangs got involved in cannabis grow operations in the Vancouver area is because of the weaker sentences here compared to sentences for trafficking elsewhere, and for trafficking in cocaine and/or heroin. The risk-to-wealth ratio is much better. The small fines they were receiving were simply considered to be the cost of doing business.
It is also not hard for leaders to convince people to help maintain or watch the crops if the risk of going to prison is low. Although recent laws have helped to make it easier to take back some of the profits they are making, we still need a stronger deterrent. We need them to fear the chance of going to prison for a long time. This bill makes sure that message is loud and clear.
The same has to be said for the use of weapons during the commission of a crime. Regardless of the original intention of the offender, once a weapon is presented, the chance of serious injury or loss of life from that action is huge. Those offenders who resort to use of weapons are clearly more of a threat to society and should pay a proportionately higher consequence for their actions. The best way to lower that risk to society is to remove the offender. The longer the offender is removed from society, the longer society is free from that threat.
When we see the vast majority of offences committed by a small number of offenders, it stands to reason that the longer sentences should result in less crime. Regardless of why the sentences have gotten weaker, the fact is that they have. In my opinion, we need to change that trend. I believe this bill has the potential to do that and therefore support it.
Thank you.