The goals of the CFDP in proposing amendments to C-7 are:
to reduce the violence associated with the black market in drugs;
to reduce the risk of acquiring HIV and other lethal bloodborne infections;
to reduce the financial burden on society that arises from unnecessary drug-related expenditures;
to stress the need to explore alternatives to current drug policies and laws, so that the harms of drug use to users and society alike will be kept to a minimum;
to respect international human rights obligations; and
to reduce the unnecessary and unproductive criminalization of large numbers of Canadians for the possession of substances.
The principal amendments proposed by the CFDP are:
to include a declaration of principle about the goals and aims of drug laws and policies;
to confirm that the provisions of the Criminal Code relating to impairment continue to apply to any impairment caused by any substance regulated by the bill;
to remove the criminal prohibition for the possession by adults of small amounts of substance for personal use, the amounts of these substances to be determined by an expert advisory committee;
to clarify the law to ensure that syringe exchange programs are not impeded by defining "controlled substance" to include containers used to deliver substances;
to rationalize sentencing for offences involving possession of larger amounts of substances;
to remove the criminal prohibition on the transfer among adults, for no consideration, of small amounts of substances;
to continue to prohibit the trafficking of substances to minors, whether for consideration or not;
to allow the cultivation of up to 10 plants of cannabis without a permit, or more with a permit issued under the regulations.
The Future of the Bill
On 2 February 1996, the government announced the prorogation of the current session of Parliament. Since Bill C-7 had not yet been enacted, it died at this time. However, on 1 March, the Hon Herb Gray, the Government House Leader and Solicitor General of Canada, announced the government's intention to reinstate the bill in the new session of Parliament, which began on 26 February. On 6 March, the new Minister of Health, the Hon David Dingwall, introduced a motion that in effect revived the bill, renaming it Bill C-8, and deemed it passed by the House of Commons. The House adopted the motion and the Bill was deemed passed. Apart from changing the bill's number from C-7 to C-8, Bill C-8 is identical to the bill originally passed by the House of Commons on 30 October 1995. The reinstated bill will return to the Senate, where the Standing Senate Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs will likely continue the hearings that were interrupted when the session ended on 2 February. The CFDP will continue to draft model drug legislation for Canada in order to be able to offer an alternative to either the present laws or what ever laws the government decides to resurrect.