Impaired judgment : Jugement déficient : évaluation de l'opportunité des tribunaux de traitement de la toxicomanie, en réponse à l'usage de drogue au Canada

However, the coercive characteristics of the DTC system result in encroachment on the drug treatment sphere and can contort the judicial protections of defendants to the point of undermining health needs and infringing human rights. [...] One recent example of the call to rethink the approach of prohibition and punishment is the Vienna Declaration — the official declaration of the 2010 International AIDS Conference, endorsed by thousands of experts and service-providers, as well as some Canadian municipalities — that highlights the necessity of an evidence-based, public health model to address drug use and misuse.27. [...] Drug courts in the U. S. were established in response to the soaring number of arrests and incarcerations as a result of the continued and vigorous prosecution of the “war on drugs.”51. [...] These DTCs receive approximately $3.5 million per approved year, from the Treatment Action Plan of the National Anti-Drug Strategy introduced in 2007.56 The stated goal of drug treatment courts in both Canada and the U. S. is the same: to break the cycle of drug use and criminal recidivism, as well as to reduce overreliance on the costly prison system. [...] The combination of judicial supervision and immediate and intensive drug treatment offers the best hope for many drug addicts to achieve a sustained reduction and an eventual elimination of their drug habit.70 As stated by Justice Canada: “The fundamental intent of the DTC program is to divert serious drug-addicted offenders out of the correctional system and into treatment in order to halt the cy