Politics

Liberal MPs urge dropping criminal penalties for all illicit drug use

It is one of 39 resolutions that the party opened up for online discussion Tuesday, January 16th, 2018 … On illegal drugs, the caucus resolution urges the government to adopt the model instituted in 2001 in Portugal, where treatment and harm reduction services were expanded and criminal penalties eliminated for low-level possession and consumption of all illicit drugs. There, a person found in possession of a drug for personal use is no longer arrested but ordered to appear before a “dissuasion commission” which can refer the person to a voluntary treatment program or impose administrative sanctions.

Even as Justin Trudeau prepares to deliver on his promise to legalize recreational marijuana, Liberal MPs (in Canada) are pushing the government to eliminate criminal penalties for simple possession and consumption of all illicit drugs. The prime minister has so far drawn the line at pot legalization, but he’s now being pressured to go much further in a resolution developed by the national Liberal caucus for consideration at the federal party’s national policy convention in April in Halifax … Since Portugal adopted the new approach, the resolution says, “the number of deaths from drug overdoses has dropped significantly, adolescent and problematic drug use has decreased, the number of people in drug treatment has increased, the number of people arrested and sent to criminal courts has declined by 60 per cent, and the per capita social cost of drug misuse has decreased by 18 per cent.”

Original Article (The Star):
Liberal MPs urge dropping criminal penalties for all illicit drug use
Artwork Fair Use: Visitor7

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