The implications have been profound, frankly, from the get-go, and they continue to be a significant challenge. You're absolutely right.
We hear from patients constantly, day in and day out, about the different challenges they face. Not only are they facing the economic challenges you mentioned in terms of having to choose between food and other things in order to live; they are constantly battling against pharmaceutical drugs being offered to them at a lower cost, which they know may not necessarily be good for them or may take them down a very dangerous path. The number one threat of that is the opioids. Quite often, they are in an unfortunate position where they have to choose to pay either for medical cannabis—which is costly for them to fund, obviously, but significantly more so when it comes to the tax part of it—or for opioids, which are quite often covered under various drug plans. That is definitely a constant worry.
I want to add that there is one thing we often see that is going to get us. In this case, what I am seeing is a very disturbing trend that I don't think we have a very good handle on. There is a demographic tsunami coming at us. When I say “tsunami”, I mean that. It's out there. We know it's there, but it hasn't quite hit us yet. That is in the form of older Canadians. Older Canadians obviously consume medication at a much higher rate than younger folks, and they're really seeing the impact there. They are having to make very distinct and very difficult choices. That is happening on a much more regular basis. As Canadians age, and this is obviously happening at a relatively fast rate, that is a big issue that we're going to have to face. It's very important that we respond to this issue now in order to prevent a bigger issue down the road.