PAN has signed on to this statement and encourages others to do the same.
Individuals and organizations are invited to sign this statement against punitive and coercive approaches to drug use in Canada and around the world.
It will be sent to Hon. Carolyn Bennett, Minister of Mental Health and Addictions / Associate Minister of Health; Hon. Jean-Yves Duclos, Minister of Health; and Hon. David Lametti, Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada regarding the Global Day of Action “Support. Don’t Punish”, a global advocacy campaign calling for drug policies based on health and human rights. THe Global Day of Action is June 26, 2023.
The letter is a call “against punitive and coercive approaches to drug use in Canada and around the world.” This year’s theme is centred on “reclaiming people power for sustainable alternatives to the war on drugs.” In signing onto the letter, individuals and organizations in Canada “wholeheartedly support centering people who use drugs – and their human rights – as we work together to end racist, classist and colonial drug policies that have caused immeasurable harm and suffering, including in creating the context for the current drug toxicity crisis ravaging our country.”
Some points include:
- Calls for involuntary care and/or detention of people who use drugs are on the rise and take many insidious forms. These approaches are out of step with international human rights norms, and harm – rather than supports – people who use drugs.
- We welcome the federal government’s work toward solutions and remind policy makers at all levels that standards, policies, programs, and projects must respect human rights, which is the spirit of “Support. Don’t Punish.”
- These same standards, policies, programs, and projects must be viewed through and shaped by an Indigenous rights lens in order to be truly culturally responsive. Punitive and coercive approaches to drug use would certainly be out of step with this mandate.
- We also underscore that a failure to provide safe, accessible, and culturally responsive services is unto itself a form of punishment.