Although Canada's response to the health and social problems resulting from drug abuse has been constructive, the response to drug use itself has been less useful. Change is difficult to achieve due to the bureaucratic imperative that produces an exaggeration of the problem, the short attention span of politicians, and the national capital's focus on crises. Instead of the political symbols and empty rhetoric of a War on Drugs, the country should redefine the drug issue as essentially a public health matter requiring control measures that do not depend on the criminal justice system and that recognize the complexity of normal human behavior and the many ways we can influence it. 11 references