moved for leave to introduce C-272, An Act to amend the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act (supervised drug consumption sites).
Mr. Speaker, today, I am introducing legislation to ban supervised drug consumption sites next to children. Fentanyl, meth, crack cocaine and heroin are the drugs being smoked, injected and snorted both inside and outside of supervised consumption sites across Canada. Every supervised drug consumption site operates only because the federal Minister of Health approves it through an exemption under the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act. She has the power to act, but chooses not to.
Because of that failure, used needles and crack pipes are being found on playgrounds. Children are walking past clouds of fentanyl smoke on their way to school and day cares are shutting down because children are no longer safe at these sites.
A decade of drug enablement policies has failed Canadians suffering with addiction and the communities surrounding these sites. Canadians understand that supervised consumption sites are magnets for drugs and disorder, two things that have no place next to children.
New peer-reviewed evidence now confirms that closing these sites actually leads more users toward life-saving addiction treatment, which is another reason to take action.
As a father and a grandfather, I hope all members will quickly pass this bill to protect children.
(Motions deemed adopted, bill read the first time and printed)