June 28, 2012 - 4:28 PM
OTTAWA - A study prepared for the public safety minister indicates there are tricky practical and legal barriers to fulfilling Conservative election promises aimed at making Canada's prisons drug-free.
An internal memo accompanying the study says no international prison system has been able to eradicate drugs from within its walls.
It adds that while the Correctional Service has made a great deal of progress on both interdiction and programming to address drug and alcohol use, demand remains strong.
The study by officials from Public Safety, the Correctional Service and the Parole Board of Canada concludes that achieving drug-free prisons is an aspirational goal — akin to achieving drug-free societies.
The heavily censored document and accompanying memo were released to The Canadian Press under the federal law that allows people to seek copies of government records.
The Correctional Service says more than 80 per cent of federal prisoners have a substance abuse problem that requires intervention.
In the 2011 election campaign, the Conservatives promised that every federal inmate would be drug tested at least once a year, that prisoners with illicit substances would face appropriate additional charges, and that inmates who fail drug tests would be denied parole.
News from © The Canadian Press, 2012