Jonathan Caulkins, former advisor to Barack Obama and author of a confidential report to the BC government, says the fentanyl crisis will require a dramatic changes in our response
Thanks, Derek, I will follow up with Donald. As you probably are aware, I spent time at City Hall with Larry Campbell when Donald was the drug policy advisor. It was all Four Pillars then. I don’t know about moderate enforcement, but the criminology and police types I have spoken to feel the effort is confused and contradictory, so “moderate” may make it sound more intentional than it is. Regards, Geoff
Appreciate your various writings on the overdose crisis, much needed insights and dialogue, but I think you were some generous about the wisdom of the Caulkins contracting (whether Caulkins worked for Mr Obama or not). More info is always better than less, but the apparent framing of the report by the folks who hired Caulkins suggests they gave him a narrow framing of the complexity of the hard drug issues here in BC. I like the 4 pillars approach at least in broad terms rather than focusing heavily on one pillar (and lightly on the other 3 pillars).
You mentioned that maybe Caulkins will say some thing about enforcement....well ya, as he should do about prevention and recovery as well, along with digging into the safe supply and related focus he appears to have been asked to do (but who knows for sure. However, what is an American drug policy and programming expert, after a few months of research up here, going to know about enforcement at a granular level within the BC/Canadian social, policing, legal and political contexts? In a recent summary journal article, Caulkins stated, "We have argued in a number of papers that a modestly enforced prohibition of production and sale [of hard drugs] generates most of the benefits with fewer of the adverse consequences". 'Modestly enforced prohibition', maybe these three words summarize the existing practices re enforcement in BC?
If you want a blog idea, maybe interview Don McPherson, get his perspective re BC substance use and 4 pillars applicability/success/etc today. He's easy to find at SFU.
Thanks, Derek, I will follow up with Donald. As you probably are aware, I spent time at City Hall with Larry Campbell when Donald was the drug policy advisor. It was all Four Pillars then. I don’t know about moderate enforcement, but the criminology and police types I have spoken to feel the effort is confused and contradictory, so “moderate” may make it sound more intentional than it is. Regards, Geoff
Geoff,
Appreciate your various writings on the overdose crisis, much needed insights and dialogue, but I think you were some generous about the wisdom of the Caulkins contracting (whether Caulkins worked for Mr Obama or not). More info is always better than less, but the apparent framing of the report by the folks who hired Caulkins suggests they gave him a narrow framing of the complexity of the hard drug issues here in BC. I like the 4 pillars approach at least in broad terms rather than focusing heavily on one pillar (and lightly on the other 3 pillars).
You mentioned that maybe Caulkins will say some thing about enforcement....well ya, as he should do about prevention and recovery as well, along with digging into the safe supply and related focus he appears to have been asked to do (but who knows for sure. However, what is an American drug policy and programming expert, after a few months of research up here, going to know about enforcement at a granular level within the BC/Canadian social, policing, legal and political contexts? In a recent summary journal article, Caulkins stated, "We have argued in a number of papers that a modestly enforced prohibition of production and sale [of hard drugs] generates most of the benefits with fewer of the adverse consequences". 'Modestly enforced prohibition', maybe these three words summarize the existing practices re enforcement in BC?
If you want a blog idea, maybe interview Don McPherson, get his perspective re BC substance use and 4 pillars applicability/success/etc today. He's easy to find at SFU.
Derek De Biasio