During testing the individual must provide his or her urine sample in ‘full view’ of an official observer, who must witness the body fluid leaving the body directly into the sample collection bottle. This practice is often described as humiliating and demeaning. The right of the state to examine another person’s bodily fluids presents a real challenge to individual rights and there is a need to balance this with the rights of a safe and peaceful community. Current drug use trends of federal prisoners in Canada are discussed in the following section.

CURRENT DRUG USE TRENDS OF FEDERAL PRISONERS IN CANADA

Drug use is a problem for corrections in Canada and around the world. In fact, the only countries that do not have serious drug problems within their penal institutions are those countries that have the death penalty for both drug use and trafficking (Jürgens 1998). In Europe, for example, between 180,000 and 600,000 drug users pass through the various national correctional systems annually (European Centre For Drugs and Drug Addiction 2002). New Zealand reports that 83% of their prisoners have had issues with drugs or alcohol at some point in their lives (Morris 2001). Findings are similar in Canadian correctional settings. Over 80% of federal prisoners in Canada indicate that they have used illicit substances at least once in their lives, and approximately 50% are considered “regular” users of illegal drugs (Brochu et al. 2001). Of the drugs used prior to incarceration by federal prisoners, the most popular in descending order of preference are cannabis, cocaine and heroin (Brochu et al. 2001).

Despite the threat of harsh penalties, prisoners in Canada continue to use drugs while incarcerated. As one observer points out:

Drug use and abuse are ways of dealing with boredom, anxiety and despair; just how many prisons are there that are able to promote stimulation, relaxation and hope in their inmates by natural means? Drug use as a means of altering consciousness is a universal phenomenon that has been documented since the beginnings of recorded history. To imagine that there would not be drug use in prisons would be to ignore facts about human nature as well as about the effects of drugs (Jürgens 1998:2).

To assess the prevalence of drug use within its institutions, CSC relies largely on data collected from the random urinalysis program. From July 1996 to May 2000, 24,766 random urinalysis tests were conducted on federal inmates across Canada. According to the test data, the national positive rate for all drugs has shown a slight increase, from 11% in 1996, to 12% in 2000, but this change is not statistically significant. Of these positive samples, 9.32% were for cannabis (THC), 1.19% were for opiates, 0.23% were for cocaine, and 0.02% were for alcohol (MacPherson 2001). This data corresponds with self-reported drug use surveys, such as one conducted in Quebec in 2001, where 91% of prisoners said cannabis was their drug of choice, while only 6% named heroin (Plourde 2002). Results from random testing indicated harder drugs are more prevalent in maximum-security institutions where up to 25% of positive tests are for opiates (CSC 2002).

Independent self-reported surveys in federal institutions indicate that prison drug use may be more prevalent than CSC’s urinalysis data indicates. For example, a 1996 study of prisoners in Matsqui Institution found that 40% of those surveyed admitted to using prohibited substances while incarcerated (Jürgens 1996:2). Additionally, 71% of those questioned indicated they had used IV drugs at some point in their lives and of these: