The CCJA believes drug laws foster criminal violence primarily in two ways: (1) they create a black market; and (2) they raise the cost of drugs and promote acquisitive crime. If alternative ways of supplying dependent drug users are available, violence associated with the drug trade will diminish and drug users will not be forced to turn to crime to support their habit. Bill C-8 does not provide for such alternatives and thus worsens the problems of violence and drug-related crime. Further, Canada's prisons face severe overcrowding and Bill C-8 will increase the overcrowding by incarcerating more drug users. Drug users will continue to feel the compulsion to use drugs while in prison but they will not have the means to prevent infection due to HIV and other potentially lethal bloodborne diseases. Although Bill C-8 purports to articulate a more modern approach to drug control in Canada, it actually retains a 90-year-old system of criminal prohibition that has repeatedly failed to resolve drug- related problems. The CCJA concludes that Bill C-8 will increase violence in society, result in the needless criminalization and incarceration of many drug users, foster the spread of lethal bloodborne diseases, and impose enormous financial burdens on Canadians. 6 endnotes