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Cannabis users in Québec are now living under the hand of fascist
pot-hater (and former Mulroney administration conservative MP) Lucien Bouchard.
Previous Québec Premier Jacques Parizau was a little more liberal
than Bouchard, and it was under his administration that the "permanent
committee on the fight against drug addiction" (comité permanent
de la lutte ˆ la toxicomanie) got together with the Ministry of Health
to create a questionnaire about reorganizing Québec's drug policy,
and possibly decriminalizing or legalizing cannabis. They circulated the
questionnaire to thousands of health professionals and other interested
parties across the province.
Health Minister
Jean Rochon even promised an "open debate" on the legalization or decriminalization
of cannabis. Now with a new boss, he has suddenly changed his mind and
no longer mentions the idea.
Hiding the Report
The permanent committee, however, went forward with their own "public consultation"
which was entirely separate from the public debate Mr Rochon spoke about.
They completed it by consulting diverse experts, and they handed their
final report to the Ministry of Health. Yet I was told by Jocelyne Forget
of the permanent committee that Minister Rochon had put an embargo on the
results and will not release the report.
Although the committee apparently disapproves of this unjustified sanction,
they can't do a thing about it, and their final report will remain unpublished
and therefore unavailable. Who wants to guess what it recommends?
No More Drug Treatment
Québec's Bouchard goverment is also currently reviewing its policy
on drug treatment and rehabilitation centres. Over the past decade, the
goverment had been adopting a more social approach towards drug use, such
as installing drug rehabilitation centres in private houses with a more
suitable atmosphere than conventional closed therapy buildings, and also
by supporting programs such as needle exchange.
The goverment intends to close nearly half of already existing therapy
centres for drug addiction, including alcohol. The first ones closed recently
and others are awaiting orders of closure. With fewer resources at their
disposal, more people will be sentenced to jail instead of a calm stay
with non-judgmental and caring folks.
Québecois drug users will now be spending much longer stays in our
expensive and ineffective prisons. Of course this includes all of you cannabis
lovers.
Fight for your
Rights
There's only two things I'm sure of. The first is that we cannot rely on
our goverment to make reasonable amendments to the law, and the second
is that we must mobilize ourselves to actively and openly oppose cannabis
prohibition. We have a lot to do here in Québec, since most marijuana
smokers are so afraid. If we don't fight for our rights, who will?
Alain No‘l
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