Newsletter Articles
Farewell to Drug Policy Alternatives
This issue of DPA eNews marks a departure. For the past few months, I have been taking stock of where I am with Drug Policy Alternatives. I’ve decided that I want to focus my time on a couple other things. One is a new stage of promoting my book “Buzz Kill: The Corporatization of Cannabis”. The research, writing, and re-writing literally took over my life for several years. A few years back, my son and I took a course on screenwriting. I remember the instructor’s repeated assertion that “writing is mostly re-writing”. When I decided to write a book, I sought…
Why Did We Legalize Cannabis & Why Should We Legalize Other Drugs?
In past issues, I have covered the extensive harm to Canadians and the excessive costs to the economy from our legal recreational drug industries, alcohol, and tobacco. That has prompted some people to question the wisdom of legalizing yet another drug industry, and a recreational one at that. My frequent criticism of the legalization of cannabis might lead you to believe that I am one of them. I am not. I believe that…
Safe Supply: Not a Safe Topic
Safe supply is a difficult drug policy challenge for at least two reasons. First, it is complex. Be wary of anyone who tells you differently or declares that they have the solution. Secondly, safe supply is now highly politicized and divisive which means that motives and declarations can be as contaminated as the illegal drug supply itself. I do not possess the solution. But I have encountered some prominent declarations related to safe supply that can be dismissed as outright wrong. This issue of DPA addresses three of them.
Prevention, Treatment, Harm Reduction: Why So Much Friendly Fire?
Some people are not immediately successful at navigating the potentially perilous journey of maturation in our complex, demanding, inequitable excuse for a caring society. Some of them will use drugs to cope, and some of them will become dependent or otherwise engage in high-risk drug use. Drug industries chronically fail to operate, and governments chronically fail to…
Is Cannabis Legalization in Canada a Failure?
Issue #40 October 2024
On the sixth anniversary of Canada’s legalization of cannabis for recreational use, the discussion remains pertinent for a compelling reason. The products of our long-established recreational drug industries, alcohol and tobacco, account for more harm, including deaths, and drug-related costs to the economy than all illegal drugs combined. Furthermore, numerous academic publications on our legal drug industries, including on the pharmaceutical industry, have documented a legacy of…
Tornadoes, Bullets, Drugs & Corporate Predators
In the most recent issue, I opined
“As a society, we need to do more to protect young people. Simply supplying a shield of knowledge, self esteem, and resiliency to help protect them from a perpetual stream of heat-seeking advertising and pop culture missiles is insufficient. Someone must also deal with the people launching those missiles.”
I also mentioned Ralph Nader’s book “Children First ! A Parent’s Guide to Fighting Corporate Predators”.
Inspired by Nader’s book, I would sometimes use the following metaphor…
Just Say “No” or Just Say “Let’s Party”
(Demand-Side & Supply-Side Prevention)
Demand-side prevention strategies are aimed at the public and attempt to reduce the voluntary demand for, and harmful use of, drug products. Constructive initiatives can foster an evidence-based understanding of drugs and their actions, and facilitate personal awareness, responsibility, resiliency, and self-esteem. The fostering of…
What Should We Do About Drug Use and Drug Problems?
Ideally, drug use and problems would not be addressed in isolation, but within a broader framework of healthy and responsible living. This must include coordinated approaches of prevention, treatment, harm reduction and relentless advocacy on the social, commercial, and political determinants of health.
A few issues ago, I introduced the idea that drug use and drug harms occur on a dynamic spectrum. It is not realistic to think that…
How Much Does It Cost? The Economic Costs of Drug Use in Canada
In the previous issue, I addressed some of the economic benefits of drug trades, legal and illegal. But the benefits are only part of the story. The harmful use of drugs is an enormous economic liability for Canada. Health economists have devised statistical techniques for estimating these costs to the economy, and the results are shocking….
Are Legal & Illegal Drug Trades Really All That Different?
The immediately previous issues of this newsletter addressed the harms from drug use: personal and social disruption, physical injury, illness, and sometimes death. This issue addresses some similarities between legal and illegal drug trades as an introduction to consideration of the costs of drug use to the Canadian economy. First, we must acknowledge that…
Imprudent Decisions: Drug Problems Without Dependence
While dependence is a common type of drug problem, it is not as common as many people might assume. A study from Münster, Germany showed that only about half of alcohol-impaired drivers could be characterised as alcohol dependent. Research done in Toronto Canada found a…
Drug Dependence
“I don’t have a drinking problem, except when I can’t get a drink.”
– Tom Waits
In the previous issue, I wrote about some of the history and challenges of collecting information on drug problems from those who attend drug treatment programs, and on what that picture looks like. In this issue, I write about one type of drug problem – dependence. …