[Courtesy of Beyond Prohibition Coalition] For Immediate Release: February 1, 2008 Contact: Dr. Susan Boyd: cell: 788-828-8828, email: [email protected] Educating Prime Minister Stephan Harper about Drug Policy In response to Prime Minister Stephan Harper’s flawed drug policy, which emphasizes increased crime control rather than harm reduction and drug policy reform, researcher and educator Dr. Susan Boyd in partnership with Beyond Prohibition Coalition, a Vancouver-based group, has created an educational website called “Educating Harper” at http://www.educatingharper.com. For each of the next 52 weeks, Dr. Susan Boyd will send Prime Minister Harper a letter containing a research article on harm reduction and/or drug regulation. The weekly readings are listed on the website along with a summary and a direct website link to the original paper. The website also provides concerned Canadians with information about drug policy. The first readings on the reading list pertain to the failure of drug prohibition and criminal justice initiatives such as mandatory minimum sentencing for drug offences, the necessity of drug user input, and 25 peer-reviewed articles about the harm reduction initiative Insite. These are followed by summaries of a number of film documentaries and the 1973 federally funded Final Report of the Commission of Inquiry into the Non-medical use of Drugs, better known as the LeDain Report. Other federal commissions and provincial and city reports about drugs and regulation, such as the Report on the Task Force into Illicit Narcotic Overdose Deaths in British Columbia, A Framework to Action: A Four-Pillar Approach to Drug Problems in Vancouver, and Cannabis: report of the Senate Special Committee on Illegal Drugs, are included in the reading list. Dr. Susan Boyd is Associate Professor in the Studies in Policy & Practice program and Senior Research Fellow, Centre for Addictions Research-BC at the University of Victoria. She is the author of: Hooked: Drug war films in Britain, Canada, and the United States (2008), From Witches to Crack Moms: Women, Drug Law, and Policy (2004), Mothers and Illicit Drugs: Transcending the Myths (1999), and co-editor of With Child: Substance Use During Pregnancy, A Woman-centred Approach (2007). Beyond Prohibition Coalition is a Vancouver-based group that promotes community health, safety, and drug policy reform. They support moving towards the development and implementation of a system of regulation and control of currently illegal substance within a framework of public health and human rights. www.educatingharper.com