Bill C-8 - The Impact of Canada's Drug Laws on the Spread of HIV: A Joint Submission to the Standing Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs

The paper outlines how Canadian drug laws and policies impact on the spread of HIV/AIDS and other diseases like hepatitis B and C. The author provides a brief description of the Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network and the Canadian AIDS Society before providing a summary of the results of a project that explored the legal and ethical issues raised by HIV/AIDS. A review of the literature suggests that drug use should be treated as a health issue, not a criminal activity. The paper also explores the issue of drug use in Canadian prisons and argues that Canadian drug laws and policies contribute to the spread of HIV among prisoners. The paper concludes by supporting the changes to Bill C-8 in the amended version proposed by the Canadian Drug Policy Foundation. An appendix is attached of a paper titled "Criminalization of Drug Use: Ineffective and Unethical" which further supports the claim that laws and policies should be revised because they are ineffective at reducing the harms associated with drug use.