CSC’s knowledge of the possible shift from soft drug to hard drugs is evident in an article by Warden Ron Wiebe published in 1999. He states:

Somebody could have used heroin or cocaine, and 72 hours later, it may not be possible to detect the abuse, whereas we could detect THC. Marijuana is certainly a lesser concern for us than the harder drugs. Offenders often argue that they switch from THC and use the harder drug simply because it's less detectable. I don't know if that's true or not, but it's an argument they give us from time to time (Wiebe 1999:2).

In addition, a 2002 report of the Corrections and Conditional Release Act states that “…initially, there were concerns prisoners would move from soft drugs to harder drugs because average time for harder drugs such as cocaine and heroin to clear the body is 48 hours, whereas substances such as cannabis clear in 30 days” (CSC 2002:186). These examples provide evidence of CSC’s awareness of the possibility inmates switching from soft to hard drugs to escape detection on random urinalysis. Despite this, there are no known CSC studies that examine the problem directly. Instead, CSC has conveniently relied upon their urinalysis statistics, that may not provide an accurate assessment of institutional drug use, to dismiss the claim that prisoners may be switching to harder drugs in its prisons.

It is difficult to gain a clear picture of drug use inside prisons, as suggested previously. Urinalysis is not without drawbacks. Variations in the random testing regime, different rates of body metabolic breakdown and prisoners developing methods to cheat testing are all examples of how the current system could produce inaccurate or incomplete data. In addition, those people that are making a switch from soft to hard drugs are likely to be small in number. Edgar and O’Donnell’s (1996) finding that only 4 of 111 people had switched to heroin from cannabis as a result of urinalysis, but none persisted with heroin use. However it is important to note that the potential downstream costs of even one extra person leaving prison with a heroin habit are extremely high for both the individual and for society.

Although opiate consumption inside the institutions has remained fairly stable over time (according to CSC’s urinalysis statistics), a look at community positive rates for opiates may give an indication of a switch to harder drugs inside the institution. CSC reports that overall consumption of opiates in its institutions has decline since 1993 (CSC 2002). However, in the community there has been an increase in positive tests for opiates from 20% in 1994, to 24% in 1996 (CSC 2002). It is possible that the increased detection of opiate use in the community could in part be due to the continuation of use that began inside.

It is important to mention that there is no official CSC evidence supporting the allegation that prisoners are switching from soft drug to hard drug to escape detection in urinalysis. There are, however, a number of CSC studies and reports negating the possibility, without a proper study of the phenomenon. In light of the anecdotal evidence presented in self-reported studies, and the study by Edgar and O’Donnell (1996) of the effects of urinalysis testing on drug use in UK prisons, it is imperative that CSC investigate this phenomenon directly, especially in light of the enormous potential downstream costs of even one extra case of prison related heroin addiction.