Thank you.
This is something that certainly plagues the Correctional Service of Canada. I'm very preoccupied by it. In order to be effective, you need to have a wide spectrum of initiatives to try to reduce the drugs coming into the penitentiaries, as well as the demand. We call “interdiction” all the measures that are applied to try to prevent drugs from coming in. On top of that, if you're balanced in your approach, you have outstanding programming in terms of reducing addiction, and then you're proactive in harm reduction as well. You need to have all of this.
What we see with the Correctional Service of Canada is that they are still focused on basically a zero-tolerance approach to drugs. That's what we wrote in my annual report. The policy on the strategy of the service dates back to 2007. That is extraordinary. It is so out of date. It doesn't even reflect some of the positive steps taken by the service. We spend an inordinate amount on interdiction—it's extraordinary how much—and it doesn't work. Interdiction itself, the zero-tolerance approach, just doesn't work. It doesn't work in our society. It doesn't work among countries. It just doesn't work in our penitentiaries.
There are some real issues and some new issues—for example, the issue around drones to try to prevent drugs from coming in—but drugs will always come in. That's why you need to have an outstanding ability to reduce the demand. The only way you can do that is by having a very accessible and very top-of-the-line addictions program. The service doesn't have that anymore. They used to have core programming that specifically targeted addiction. Now it's wrapped up with their new integrated model whereby you can treat anything. Whether it's family violence, anger management or addiction, everything is in one single program.
That's just not appropriate. Given that substance abuse can sometimes be years of abuse, you need to have one-on-one, professional counselling. You need to have groups and all sorts of measures in place. Some jurisdictions have even introduced a drug-free prison, where people commit to trying to help themselves. There are all sorts of things you can do for that.
On the harm reduction side, Harm Reduction Canada is at the forefront, on paper, with a prison needle exchange, but when we did our annual report, we did a snapshot: Only 46 people in the last fiscal year were involved in the prison needle exchange, and you have 3,000 who are on methadone and Suboxone. They are struggling with addiction issues. As I say, it's the most common area of concern.
It just doesn't work. There's only one pilot program, which is the safe injection site at Drumheller. Kudos to the service for trying, but when it comes to the implementation, there are many barriers. As somebody mentioned, some of those barriers are real. There is a lot of fear, but we have to change the approach. The approach is unbalanced and ineffectual. It's not serving anybody.
Our prisons remain sieves, I'm sorry to tell you, when it comes to the introduction of drugs. It's not by pouring hundreds of millions of dollars into trying to make them airtight that you're actually going to succeed. We have to take a different approach, and that's what—