Controlled Drugs And Substances Act  The main amendments to Bill C-7 are the ones in which my constituents are interested. The amendments create a new offence for possession of marijuana and hashish involving certain quantities. They create a new offence for trafficking in marijuana and hashish in certain quantities. They provide for a purpose clause dealing with sentences and, more particular, they encourage rehabilitation and treatment in appropriate circumstances.

Borders  Speaker, American border authorities are taking an increasingly hostile attitude with Canadians, now barring anyone who has ever smoked marijuana and detaining MPs at airports. Yesterday the Minister of Foreign Affairs reiterated that he had extensive discussions with Secretary of State Albright to facilitate movement at the border.

Legalization Of Marijuana For Medical Purposes  Mr. Speaker, as my colleague the Minister of Health and I have said on a number of occasions, our officials are at work reviewing this very important question. When we have recommendations to make to this House, we will bring them forward.

Hobby Farmers  The federal government announced that regulations were in place so people could start growing what I call industrial marijuana or hemp. This is a new enterprise. When we consider that there are 50,000 identified uses for hemp, this will provide an awful lot of marginal farming operations with one other crop they can pursue as long as those markets are developed appropriately.

Decriminalization Of Marijuana  Mr. Speaker, my supplementary is for the Minister of Justice. Will the minister recognize that, by refusing to take a stand and to assume her responsibilities in this matter, she is leaving it up to the courts to make the decision?

Canadian Wheat Board Act  When I see farmers fined for taking 50 pounds of barley across the line in protest, then I see people smuggling marijuana and cocaine on the streets without fines or imprisonment, something is wrong. All that these farmers have been doing is trying to get a better price to bring more bucks into the economy and to be able to have a better standard of living on the farm than before, and they are getting fines for it.

Customs Act  What this report suggests is that some drug lords are actually couriering their shipments of hashish, marijuana, cocaine and heroin into Canada with 24-hour, 10 a.m. delivery. I find it quite astonishing that a drug lord can get his shipment of cocaine to where he wants it in Canada more quickly than Canada Post can deliver a letter, and he can do so without fear of very serious inspection on the part of customs agents.

Penitentiaries  In our penitentiaries we have 1,200 Rastafarians, members of a religious sect that includes smoking marijuana as a part of Sunday services. The chaplains, torn between their responsibility for spiritual well-being and the law, feel obliged to give them their weekly joint of marijuana. Does the Solicitor General think it is normal that illegal substances like marijuana are freely available in federal penitentiaries and are distributed with the blessing of the penitentiary administration?

Canadian Wheat Board Act  As my hon. colleague said, it takes them away in shackles and chains, fines them tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of dollars, confiscates their equipment and just about drives them out of business. This is not marijuana or heroin or cocaine. We are talking about grain. What does the government do? It takes the people and treats them like that. I suggest, Mr. Speaker, that you can get away with this kind of treatment of your citizens for a time.

Prisons  In Mountain federal prison in my province of British Columbia, significant quantities of heroin, marijuana, cocaine and prescription drugs were reported smuggled in over a 46 day period in 1996. I ask the solicitor general to please tell Canadians how, with crime this rampant inside our penitentiaries, they can be expected to feel safe in their own communities.

Prisons  Speaker, this past weekend a supervisor at Milton's Maplehurst jail condemned the prison system as being rife with illegal drugs. He said that inmates have easy access to “heroin, cocaine, crack, marijuana, hash, hash oil, Valium, pills and steroids”. All our government appears to be doing is providing bleach to clean needles to reduce the risk of HIV. Will the solicitor general please explain to Canadians why he will not or why he cannot eliminate illegal drugs from our prisons?

Controlled Drugs And Substances Act  Marijuana and its derivatives are in the same schedule where reference is made that marijuana, its preparations, derivatives and similar synthetic preparations are all included in schedule I.

Tobacco Act  I am not taking a final stand on this, because it has not been discussed in our caucus yet. For example, there are some who think that marijuana and hashish, which are soft drugs, should be legalized. Why? Because, these people are saying: "If they were legal, they would be better controlled. The government could better ensure the quality of the products and they would be less dangerous for young people".

Tobacco Act  By increasing the taxes we would decrease consumption, particularly among children. Education about tobacco, alcohol, and marijuana and other drugs including solvents is very important. Money from tobacco taxes could be applied to early childhood education to educate children in Kindergarten that smoking, drinking, solvents, cocaine, pot and heroin are all very bad and can ruin their lives.

Controlled Drugs And Substances Act  As a criminal justice professional I have seen firsthand clients who have lost business careers because of closet marijuana habits. Years ago I saw a cabinet minister of the provincial government light up. How sad. I have dealt with sexual offenders on probation. Some of their excuses for molesting the children in their household was that they were high on cannabis.