| Summary: | Is drug abuse a health problem or a criminal justice problem? This program shows how the drug problem is being addressed in four major cities: New York, Toronto, Amsterdam and Liverpool. In Amsterdam and Liverpool drug users are treated as people who are sick, not evil. They are given needles, syringes, medical care and in some cases the drug itself. Street crime has dropped. Addicts are able to lead a more normal life and not resort to crime and prostitution. New York is a city in chaos, wracked by drugs and the effort to root them out. Stern drug laws have not provided an answer. Police and court resources have been diverted from crimes like murder and rape. Also, incarcerating small-time drug users in overcrowded prisons does not cure their addiction. Canada's public policy is somewhere between Europe's liberal approach and America's hard line. This film questions our underlying assumptions about illegal drug use and offers a new approach to this devastating social ill.
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