Randy White is a Minister of Parliament with the Conservative Party. He
is the “drug critic” in the House of Commons and an advisor to the
strategist on a national campaign to deal with the drug problem. He
successfully passed a national victims bill of rights into the criminal
code, initiated a national sex offender registry, and a led a major
study in the House of Commons on drugs. Brad Jersak interviewed him on
the topic of justice and his views on the Vancouver injection sites.
Clarion: How would you define justice?
RW: Justice is the balance between the rights of individuals and
the responsibilities of individuals. Where we draw the line between
these changes all the time. In our society we are like a pendulum on
the issue of justice. The Canadian courts are currently fulfilling our
obligations for justice less than my line would allow. But I’m
progressive enough to know that the line moves from time to time.
Clarion: What can cause that line to move?
RW: The severity of infringement on the rights of people moves
it. For example, if a woman is raped, that’s a severe infringement on
her rights and privacy. A crime like that dictates a response in the
justice system that is necessary and the courts need to give a
respectable answer to it.
Clarion: What is your vision of a just society?
RW: A just society is a place where there is a balance between the
needs of a society and the rights of individuals and the responsibility
people have to each other. As such, it’s a delicate, but necessary
balance.
Clarion: How would you distinguish between justice and punishment (some don’t)?
RW: I don’t distinguish between them. There is punishment in
justice. It’s a part of the way to restore the balance. It’s part and
parcel of it. It’s really no different than self-discipline, except
that a just society has to exercise it for you.
Clarion: Given your commitment to justice, what troubles you about the safe injection sites in Vancouver?
RW: They are not “safe” sites. They are injection sites. I don’t
believe that aiding and abetting individuals with their drug problem is
the answer. Most successful drug treatment programs believe that
abstinence is the best approach.
Clarion:What did you see in the Netherlands that would inform your opinion?
RW: It’s a disaster. I saw it in Amsterdam, Zurich, Bern and
Frankfurt. I saw social ghettoizing. I saw an area that became a magnet
for drug addicts and dealers. I saw areas that were saturated with
people that gave up on the norms of society and lived within a
sub-culture outside that society. In all of those places, those caught
in addictions were treated as “out of sight, out of mind”. It was “go
there, stay there, eventually die there” with only a small attempt to
get people off of drugs.
In many cases, dealers would be right outside the doors, handing out
drugs. Even though it was illegal, no one hassled the pushers or asked
the addicts where they got the drugs. Users weren’t asked what kinds of
drugs they were using—there was no checking as to whether the drugs
themselves were dirty or clean. The people were caught in a vicious
cycle.
Clarion: What do you believe that proponents of injection sites are
“not getting” about this issue? I.e. What do you perceive to be their
blind spots. Why?
RW: In my opinion, many of the opponents have a vested
interested in a harm reduction world. They have jobs that give them an
income that allow them to exist. Without these shoot-up sites, they’d
be out of a job. The most positive responses towards the sites came
from those who have an interest. But if you ask the families of the
addicts, they are opposed to it. Its anyone’s guess what Larry Campbell
is thinking—it’s beyond me. Why would anyone want to create ghettos in
their own community?
Most people know that grow-ops are not for local users. This is an
industry that ships to the U.S. and in return we get coke money and
other illegal substances.
The inequity growing now between Canada and the U.S. on drugs is pretty
severe… resulting in refugee claims of American addicts and in dealers
coming to make money from Canadian drug trade. This is what I witnessed
in Europe as well. Officials complained that addicts and dealers from
all over the world were flocking to these centers where drug use was
openly allowed. They didn’t know how to deal with it. In effect, the
message that the injection sites send is that we given up on trying to
restore the addict, and I’m not willing to do that.
But justice is more than simply meeting the drug problem head on.
Justice is getting the lawyers and judges to understand their
responsibility in society. More often they are looking to get criminals
off on technicalities and minimum sentences, rather than sitting down
with defence and crown and asking what’s best. Justice is deteriorating
significantly as judges use conditional sentences inappropriately. The
court is dismissing sexual crimes as less serious than they used to be.
Across Canada, courtrooms are inconsistent with penalties regarding
drug dealing.
So as you can see, we’ve got a lot of things to fix, it’ll take a while, but it will get fixed.