Decriminalization of Drugs

Throughout the world, there has always been a war on drugs, with governments not knowing how to deal with society’s substance abuse. Substance abuse is an incredibly complex issue, linked to societal shame and judgment. Despite this, studies show that half of all adults in the U.S. have used an illegal drug at some point.

The main problem with the war on drugs, it the repercussions of using, with many feeling afraid to seek help, for fear of being punished. Or, when they do seek help, health facilities are all full and they get put on a long wait list.  

To start off, legalization is where drugs can be manufactured and sold legally. Whereas decriminalization means no one will get jail time for having possession of drugs, within a certain amount. Society does not particularly like this idea because they think this will encourage drug use. However, there is currently no evidence that proves that this will or will not happen, but what I can say is that we need to change the way the world deals with drugs. Since January 2016 to the first half of 2018, there have been more than 9,000 deaths in Canada due to opioids. This number is horrifying and will only get larger the more Canada puts death from drug use on the back burner. Canada has been moving towards the right track with setting up needle exchanges throughout cities and having free rehabilitation centers, but it usually takes a minimum of 15-18 days to get in, and with the opioid crisis that is happening right now, wait times will take longer. Therefore, getting medical attention is hard to get unless it’s an emergency, with hospitals filling up and then discharging patients who then have nowhere to go once stable. This same problem is also happening in rehabilitation centers and prisons. In the US 1.25 million people are arrested every year for the use of or possessing illicit drugs, with each inmate costing taxpayers approximately $30,000 a year. Putting people in prison for these reasons is a waste of taxpayers’ dollars and ruins people’s lives, making it difficult to get a job, rent a home as well as other essential to living, once having a criminal record. Study shows that the theory of stiffer prison terms deter drug misuse, distribution, and other drug-law violations is not true, and evidence strongly suggests pursuing different strategies.

Portugal is an example of a country who has successfully tackled substance abuse and health issues by decriminalizing drugs. In the 80s, before Portugal decriminalized drugs, one in every 100 Portuguese was battling a problematic heroin addiction at that time. Portugal was the drug capital of Europe, with high rates of HIV and other infections, overdose deaths, and drug-related crime. But in 2001 the Portuguese government decided to decriminalize all drugs making it the first country in the world to take this approach to drugs, and it worked. While drug-related death, incarceration and infection rates plummeted, the country still had to deal with the health complications of long-term problematic drug use. This is an incredible change that the world has seen Portugal go through, but maybe it’s time for other nations to try this approach.

Just like everything, there are always cons to this idea. Drugs will still be sold and bought on the black market since it is not legalized. Since drugs won’t be legalized that means there will be no tax on them, so the government won’t be making any money. If they did make money off of drugs, the government could afford to endorse extra programs, treatments centers, and health professionals. To finish it off decriminalizing drugs is not going to fix Canada’s substance abuse problem, but it is the step in the right direction to safe and proper care for people struggling in our community.

Free Tuition for Post-Secondary Education

In Canada, free post-secondary tuition has been heavily debated for decades, so why hasn’t Canada ever tried it out? With Canadian students collectively owing over $28 billion in student loans, it is no wonder that students remain in debt for years. With the rise of inflation, it is getting more difficult by the year for students to get out of school debt free. Frieda Richards in a Global News interview states that “67 percent of Canadians are graduating with some form of student debt”, this debt is not only from student loans but also from paying for living expenses which adds to consumer debt from line of credit, credit cards and bank loans. With tuitions fees growing exponentially, there seems to be is no sign of BC moving towards free tuition or even lowing their interest rates. As a student myself, I will have to pay over $7,500 in interest fees alone, on top of my $15,000 loan, and I am not even done school yet. There are claims that the federal government is using interest fees on student loans as a source of revenue that is projected to earn approximately $862.6 million in revenue from the Canada Student Loans Program (CSLP) in 2018. In addition, public records show student loan interest rates used to be around $650 million in prior years. Unfortunately, as student debt piles up it makes it difficult for people to start their lives on a clean slate. Hence, if Canada joined countries like France and Slovenia, and adopted the free post-secondary model, it could benefit students, but also could come with some downsides. Tuition would be paid for entirely by the tax payer’s dollars. This means that if public budgets fail to keep pace with the demand of payment, then schools will have to have to limit the number of students or sacrifice the quality of teaching. Contrarily, while overcrowding seems to be an issue with free post-secondary institutions, within the G-7, the four countries that charge college tuition have higher education attainment rates.  Another option is for Canada to create a better way for students to repay their loans. Take Australia for example, who started a program in 1989 that links loan payments to the student’s income. Students pay a low interest rate equal to inflation and are exempt from payments until they earn AU$55,874. They only pay a flat percentage of all their income, once their income exceeds the threshold.  In the end, when it comes to deciding whether post-secondary tuition should be free, I would say no, however, paying back your student loans should not be as difficult or expensive as it is. As a student who has racked up a hefty student loan bill, sometimes I wish it was free. However, the fact that countries who have tuition fees have high attainment rates, and the fact that I have to pay for it out of my own pocket, makes me appreciate and work twice as hard.

Many Victorians believe that the bikes lanes are a waste of money, but are they?

With the expansions of the bike lanes to start sometime this year which will continue on Vancouver Street, Wharf Street and Humboldt Street. City of Victoria plans to have all bike lanes done by 2022, and with 32 kilometers of All Ages and Abilities protect bike lanes extending across the community.

 If you had a problem with the bike lanes along Pandora and Fort Street, then you can voice you opinion in an online survey or go to one of the meeting set up by city workers where you discuss design plans for the future bike lanes. With British Columbia, and Victoria in general, wanting to move into a more environmentally friendly community, then this will be one of the ways to do that. Mayor Lisa Helps says that once completed we are expected to reduced greenhouse gas emission by more than 10,000 tones a year. In addition, there has been a lot of flack about the cost of the project and where the money is coming from. Yes, an extra $7.85 million is needed to complete to Cook, Humboldt and Wharf bike lanes, but $500,000 of that was to “save eight parking spots in the 600 block of Fort Street. That was [due to] direct input from the public.” Says Helps. “That impacts the costs.” And as where the money is coming from? The funding is from the AAA bicycle network which is mostly funded through Federal Gas Tax Funding, which means every time we put gas into our cars, we are funding the transportation network project. From an interview with Vic News and director of engineering and public works, Fraser Work, Work mentions that “a lot of questions come up about ‘why not simply add more painted lanes’ that have such a lower cost … that’s not what this is about. From a staff level I’m most interested in the safety for all cyclists that move in and out of traffic.” People are forgetting about the safety of the cyclists, young, old, and disabled. With the rate of population that Victoria is growing at we need to start thinking about the future, and how people are going to transport themselves around the city.

At the end of the day the argument about whether bike lanes are a waste of money or not won’t end. But maybe to really see both sides to this dispute, people should try to enjoy a bike ride down the protected bikes lanes themselves and see why people do appreciate the lanes so much.