This one comes from a guy who is quickly becoming my favorite Neo-Con. The article is here, and it refers to Britian, not Canada.

Prisoners are set to be paid compensation because they were forced to stop taking drugs in jail.
(snip)
The case - alleging the "cold turkey" withdrawal treatment they were forced to undergo amounted to assault - was scheduled to start at the High Court today.
(snip)
When finally resolved this week, all 198 may be handed compensation by the Prison Service - with sums potentially running into tens of thousands of pounds (ed. thats twenty-thousands of dollars in CAD).
(snip)
They also claimed human rights breaches under Articles 3 and 14 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which ban discrimination, torture or inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment and Article 8, which enshrines the right to respect for private life.
(snip)
Prison Reform Trust director Juliet Lyon said: "The outcome of this case could cause courts to pause for thought before using a prison sentence as a gateway to treatment. Our overcrowded jails are awash with petty, persistent offenders who commit crime to feed their drug habit. Rather than trying, and failing, to turn prisons into hospitals, the government needs to get to grips with drugs policy, invest in community health treatment for addictions and use prison for drug barons, not downtrodden mules and homeless addicts."

This sets a precedent. If the jails can't force people off of smack, they'll have to supply them with it. Should the Queen become Britian's biggest dope-dealer?

As a huge drug enthusiast, I think not. I'd rather enjoy my jail-days to be a brief look into the life of sobriety. Then again, I'm not hitting the syringe daily. Yeah for booze and blunts.

Labels: Britain, Human Rights