Winding Down the War on Drugs (And Addicts)?

Despite their opposition to initiatives such as Vancouver's Insite safe injection site, the Harper government is running a pilot project to offer addicts free heroin and a place to safely use it. The Globe and Mail's Justine Hunter reports that

Two hundred drug addicts in Montreal and Vancouver will be lining up for free heroin later this year at publicly funded clinics. And they can thank the federal Conservative government, despite its hard line against hard drugs.

The trial - which will offer the drug in pill and injectable forms as well - builds on a similar heroin experiment last year that found most participants committed far fewer crimes and their physical and mental health improved.

The three-year medical trial will put Canada on the leading edge of international addictions research

Perhaps Canada -- and the Harper government! -- is coming to its senses. From the unbelievable violence in northern Mexico to the misery of Vancouver's downtown east side to the huge prison population in the U.S., the drug wars have been a horrific failure.

I have written on the drug wars and the treatment of addicts earlier. Here is a video on Vancouver's Insite initiative