Off the Street: Legalizing Drugs by W. A. Bogart

Author:W. A. Bogart [Bogart, W. A.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Public Policy, Criminology, Social Policy, Social Science, Political Science, Disease & Health Issues
ISBN: 9781459734999
Google: X6s7CwAAQBAJ
Publisher: Dundurn
Published: 2016-11-12T11:45:04+00:00

FEDERAL/PROVINCIAL CO-OPERATION

Federal systems, whether they are located in Canada, the U.S., or other countries, inevitably have strengths and weaknesses, and each constitutionally entrenched level of government receives benefits and drawbacks from the larger system of which it is a part. One of the main benefits of the federal system of government, generally, is that responsibility for governing is shared. So, for example, national and international matters are typically assigned to the central authority, while local matters are left to regional governments. A federal system also provides more opportunity for experiments in governance (health care, education, etc.), if successful, to be adopted by other provinces/states and possibly even to find their way to the national platform. Disadvantages can include lack of co-operation in areas of overlapping powers that lead to conflict and waste of human and financial resources.

In recent years, we’ve mostly witnessed the drawbacks of our federalism in terms of governmental management of recreational drugs. The national government was at loggerheads with several of the provinces, most prominently British Columbia. There were several issues. One of the most prominent was the issue of “harm reduction.” We discussed this strategy (also sometimes referred to as “harm minimization”) in chapter one. The provinces, faced with the continuing criminalization of recreational drugs, turned to this intervention in an attempt to mitigate some of the most negative aspects of substance consumption. The national government, with its relentless pursuit of criminalization, adamantly opposed such efforts. The result was conflict, such as the one over the safe injection site clinic, Insite, in Vancouver that we discussed in chapter one.

More recently, other provinces, such as Quebec, have also attempted to open safe injection sites. Again these efforts were fought by the Conservative government of Stephen Harper. In June 2015 the Respect for Communities Act came into force.[10] The legislation specifies a number of stringent conditions that must be met before an injection site can be opened or continue to run. The federal government and its supporters defended the legislation on the grounds that there must be thorough consultation and fulfillment of other processes before these sites can open in any community. The bill, however, was opposed in a statement that contained 120 signatories, including the Canadian AIDS Society, Vancouver Coastal Health, and Toronto Public Health. The Canadian Nurses Association, representing 135,000 registered nurses, actively opposed it.

There have also been dust-ups between the federal government and the provinces and municipalities over medical marijuana dispensaries. The main war zone was Vancouver[11] (although other cities, such as Saskatoon, also did battle with the feds). By 2015, Vancouver had almost one hundred of these dispensaries (or “compassion clubs” in the case of non-profits). They purport to sell marijuana only for medical proposes — but, as we saw in chapter three, recreational and medical uses are becoming increasingly blurred.

Vancouver regulated dispensaries in 2015 in terms of licensing, location, etc. There were also plans for other cities, such as Victoria and Saskatoon, to follow suit. These activities caused the federal government much consternation. Then Health Minister Rona Ambrose sent letters warning of consequences should Vancouver persist.

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