Within the correctional system, drug suppression activities of course have to be consistent with an environment that is conducive to rehabilitation and, eventually, to safe and timely reintegration back into the community.
Eliminating drugs and alcohol from prison appears deceptively simple, but has proven to be very difficult and costly in practice. The problem of intoxicants in prison is difficult to measure and therefore difficult to monitor. Drug supply and utilization are illegal and underground activities. It's extremely difficult to generate a reliable number, or predictor, of the extent of the drug problem inside Canadian penitentiaries. We know that drugs are in prisons. We simply don't know the extent of the drug use.
Demand for drugs has always been present in prison. The reality is that in a prison setting, there are ever more ingenious and adaptive methods to smuggle, move, and conceal contraband. Short of completely banning all visits and all interaction with the outside world, and the imposition of extraordinarily intrusive workplace rules, the idea of a drug-free prison remains commendable in theory but highly improbable in reality.
The Correctional Service recorded over 1,700 drug-related seizures in the last fiscal year. The number of drug seizures in recent years has increased, but it's difficult to say whether the service is on top of the problem or simply scratching the surface. The question remains, is the number of seizures related to better enforcement, intelligence, and staff training or simply to increases in the amount of drugs being smuggled into federal penitentiaries?
Sometimes, well-meaning policy changes contribute to the problem of contraband in prison. In May of 2008, the service instituted a total tobacco ban. Now tobacco is the number one illegal commodity on the inside. According to information contained in daily situation reports, there appear to be far more seizures of this substance on a regular basis than any other contraband.