I was told I wasn't allowed to talk about medical marijuana, but now that you've brought it up, I would like to say something.
I think it's absolutely abominable the way the federal government has dealt with medical marijuana. In fact, it was a divisional court decision that suggested that there was an obligation to provide it, a decision that was overturned by the Court of Appeal. So there is no court decision, and yet this substance is being made available without any of the safeguards that exist for opioids—and we are facing a crisis with opioids.
We are either all going to be getting marijuana legally five years from now or everyone's going to be sitting around the table talking about the public health crisis with marijuana. There is absolutely no control over who should get it or for what indications it should be given, and yet doctors are being asked—and I'll use the term loosely—to prescribe this substance that has no safety profile. I think it's awful.
We've reflected our concerns to Health Canada, and yet we've not seen nearly a response that we think would be in the public interest.