5.4 Costs & Consequences of Current Canadian Drug Policies
Outcomes of Canada’s Current Approach to Substances Include:
- The drug poisoning (overdose) crisis and an unregulated drug market.
- Crime rates, drug-related crime, and organized crime.
- Prison and incarceration.
- Increased violence.
- Stifling medical research.
- Increasing the negative effects of drug use.
(CDPC, 2020a)
Click these links below to learn more about the outcomes of Canada’s current approach to substances:
Outcomes of our Current Approach to Substances
Discussion Guide: Getting to Tomorrow – Ending the Overdose Crisis (Read pages 17-22)
VIDEO: Outcomes of Our Current Drug Policies
The following video provides an explanation of the costs and consequences associated with drug criminalization.
Additional Costs & Consequences of Existing Criminalization Policies
- Instead of improving the health and lives of Canadians, current policies have exacerbated the negative effects of substance use (CDPC, 2020b).
- The provisions of the SSCA are likely to affect many marginalized people, including people experiencing SUDs and structural vulnerability (Bennett & Bernstein, 2013).
- “Tough on crime” measures, including mandatory minimum sentences, are not an effective deterrent for people experiencing structural vulnerability and SUDs (Bennett & Bernstein, 2013).
Click the following link to learn more about the human and social costs of mandatory minimum sentences:
Throwing Away the Keys: The Human and Social Costs of Mandatory Minimum Sentences (Read the Executive Summary)
