It is through drug prohibition that governments can ensure ample employment for police officers, judges, prosecutors, defense lawyers, social workers, court officials, prison guards and prison builders (Oscapella 1998:2). In the federal correctional system, 17% of prisoners are serving time for serious drug offences (Auditor General 2001:2). As of December 31, 2000, there were 5,779 convicted drug offenders in the Federal system (either in prison or on conditional release). Of these, 3,890 were serving sentences for trafficking, 621 for importation, 225 for cultivation and 2,221 for possession (CSC 2001:25). In 1999 2000, the average annual cost of incarcerating male prisoners in federal institutions was $67,686 where incarcerating women in regional facilities cost about $115,465 per year (CSC 2000:17). ⁴

Within the United States, drug treatment remains popular and available for middle class drug users, however, it is in short supply for low income drug users. Incarcerating drug users for five years based on as little as five grams of crack is unjust and impractical. The street value of five grams of crack is estimated at about $500 in the U.S. Locking up this person over a five year period will cost the taxpayer $115,000 (The Sentencing Project ND). A Rand Corporation study indicates that investing in drug treatment would reduce serious crime 15 times more then expanding the use of prisons and would be three times as cost effective in cutting cocaine consumption (Rydell and Everingham 1994). The war on drugs opens the back door to re-instituting a form of slavery. The powerful people in society use the war on drugs to justify incarcerating minorities. Then they place these minorities to work on chain gangs within prisoner become commodities of the private prison economic structure. It differs from slavery only in that we have first vilified minorities as drug users or drug traffickers. This gives the appearance and justifies reasons for incarcerating these people in profit making privatized prisons, and then putting them out to forced labor (Oscapella 1998:4). Racism within the United States criminal justice system is obvious. I believe Canada has the potential to be as blatantly racist, especially, if we continue to fight the “war on drugs” and follow in the direction of the U.S.

It is interesting to note that Canada's Drug Strategy has given national leadership to Health Canada yet drug use is still considered mainly a criminal issue and not a health issue. This includes spending which is almost entirely dedicated to supply reduction (enforcement). The Auditor General of Canada found that 95% of the federal governments expenditures that address illicit drugs was spent by the RCMP, Correctional Services of Canada, and the Department of Justice (Auditor General 2001:9). This leaves 5% directed to prevention, treatment, rehabilitation and harm reduction. The spending is at the wrong end; it has been shown that enforcement will only lead to higher crime rates and incarceration and yet wields insignificant results in terms of reducing the costs of drugs in society.

BENEFITS OF HARM REDUCTION AND MORE LIBERAL DRUG LAWS IN RELATION TO CRIME AND INCARCERATION RATES

Harm reduction can be both a goal and a strategy (Riley 1998:50). In both instances, a person's drug use is accepted as a fact. This does not mean that people cannot aspire to abstinence if they chose. Harm reduction accepts that there are many possible approaches or strategies to address drug related problems. The National Working Group on Drug Policy suggested the following definition of harm reduction strategies: "A policy or program directed towards decreasing the adverse health, social, and economic consequences of drug use without requiring abstinence from drug use" (quoted in Riley 1998:50). Harm reduction programs and policies include:

• syringe exchanges,
• methadone maintenance programs,
• prescribing of drugs and other than methadone, including stimulants,
• explicit, honest education and outreach programs,
• "tolerance areas," such as safe injection sites, and safe dealing area's, monitored by police, and
• marijuana policies such as de facto decriminalization of small amounts of cannabis (Riley 1998:51).

⁴ Broken down by security level of the institution, the average annual cost of incarcerating a male prisoner was $96,740 for maximum security prisons, $60,673 for medium security prisons, and $53,634 for minimum security prisons and $29,921 for community correctional centers.