Thank you, Chair and the standing committee, for the invitation to appear today. My name is James O'Hara, and I'm the president and CEO of Canadians for Fair Access to Medical Marijuana, commonly known as CFAMM. I'm a medical cannabis patient myself.
CFAMM is a national non-profit organization that has successfully represented medical cannabis patients since 2014. We speak on behalf of the approximately 350,000 medical cannabis patients in Canada today. Our organization has emerged as the thoughtful, legitimate grassroots voice for medical cannabis in the non-profit advocacy space today.
Let me begin, Mr. Chairman, by saying “25%”. That's the average amount of tax that has been applied on medical cannabis: 25%. In many cases, that's low. Fully a quarter of the cost of a patient's medicine is consumed by tax today.
It's essential to understand that affordable and reasonable access to medical cannabis is absolutely critical to a patient's health and well-being, and ultimately their lives, but that's not what we have today. In fact, we have the complete opposite, in the form of a significantly tax-burdened medicine.
Let me take some time to recap some of this government's rationale for taxing cannabis. The Right Honourable Justin Trudeau has stated many times that non-medical users will flock to the medical system and abuse it. Given that cannabis legalization was implemented last month, this is no longer a valid reason.
He has also stated many times that legalization has been put in place in order to defeat the black market. This is also no longer a valid reason. This is because these burdensome taxes now do the complete opposite, and that is to encourage a black market, not defeat it. In fact, there's more reason than ever before for a black market to exist.
Let me give you a measure of that. I can honestly sit here today and tell you categorically that I've never, ever, in my life, heard so many patients tell me they will no longer support the industry but instead will go to the black market—the very black market that Mr. Trudeau is trying to eliminate. It has also been stated by many sitting members of this government in written form to their patient constituents that medical cannabis patients need to pay the costs for legalization and enforcement.
Mr. Chairman, let me remind you that we've already paid. We've been paying for almost 20 years. We've paid that bill and then some. This was before legalization even existed, so it was a very long time ago.
Let me add a lesser-known fact here: Medical cannabis patients do more than pay. They save costs for this country and companies through less medication, fewer doctor and hospital visits, and fewer sick days.
Members of this government have also stated that there's an excise tax exemption for medical cannabis patients. The bar for this so-called exemption is anything less than or equal to 0.3% THC. That is not medical cannabis; that's the THC level of hemp. In the end, this is a political defensive measure simply put in place to confuse people, and is effectively no exemption for patients at all.
The latest version of the medical tax justification appears to be the DIN argument. There already are tax-exempt products today that have no DIN. The reality is that this is just another stall tactic on the part of this government in order to continue to collect taxes from health-challenged and economically challenged Canadians as long as possible.
Whether it's the story of non-medical users cheating the system, black market elimination, medical users having to pay a bill, false exemptions, or DINs, these all lead to a single obvious truth: This government desires the tax revenue at any cost. Let me tell you something about that cost. These taxes come at a far greater cost than any one of us, including me, is capable of ever imagining. For literally hundreds of thousands of Canadians each and every day, it's paid for in pain, suffering and death.
I'd like to say to the members of this committee and to the MPs who have supported these taxes that each and every time you state another reason as to why taxes on medical cannabis should exist, please remember who you're saying this to. You're saying this to your ill mother, father, grandmother, grandfather, uncle, brother, sister, whomever, and your constituents. Medical cannabis patients are all around you. They are among us. Realize that you can justify this practice only if you either are seriously misinformed or have no compassion whatsoever for the daily struggles of health-challenged and economically challenged Canadians.
In closing, Mr. Chairman, it's on these very compassionate grounds that I call on this government to end all taxes on medical cannabis immediately.
I want to thank you, Mr. Chairman, and this committee, for your time. I'll be happy to answer questions you may have.
Thank you.