Unveiling his National Anti-Drug Strategy in early October, Health Minister Tony Clement and Prime Minister Harper promised mandatory prison sentences for serious drug offences, a national awareness campaign targeted at youth, and more funding for drug treatment, but did not promise funding for harm reduction programs. This, combined with the government’s promise to “refocus” existing drug programs, has many worried about cuts to existing programs.

Harm reduction aims to reduce the impact of drug use without forcing users to stop using drugs completely. Initiatives can include needle exchanges, methadone programs, and safe injection sites like the pilot Insite in Vancouver.

“The reality is that some people cannot or will not stop using drugs,” said the AIDS Committee of Toronto, in response to Harper’s new strategy. They argue that too much focus on punishment and abstinence will increase the rates of HIV and overdosing. World Health Organization studies show that needle exchange programs reduce HIV/ AIDS infection rates among injection drug users. But Harper still insists that he is going after dealers, not users.

“Our message is clear: drugs are dangerous and destructive,” he said. “If drugs do get hold of you—there’s help to get you off them. And if you sell or produce drugs—you’ll pay with jail time.”

It’s not that simple, according to Diane Riley, Associate Member of the Department of Public Health Sciences at the University of Toronto, and founder of the International Harm Reduction Association.

“Lots of users have to be small-time dealers to survive,” she said. “And at the same time the government is doing this, arrests for simple possession for marijuana have more than doubled, if not tripled, in the last year.”

Riley appreciates that the strategy puts extra money into treatment, but she also argues that there needs to be greater choice of treatment to better suit specific users.

“I think people have to remember that harm reduction is secondary prevention, so we have to emphasize that with the Harper government,” she said. “You’re funding prevention, so be sure to fund primary, secondary and tertiary prevention.”

An international expert on harm reduction, Riley has long been frustrated by the attitude towards drug policy reform put forward by both Conservative and Liberal governments. She also suggested that there is also more that U of T could do.

“I’ve offered to teach a course on harm reduction, which I’ve been teaching at York, and U of T is not interested,” she said.