Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
I want to thank you both for at least giving some of the benefits as well as the risks, which is how I always look at it when you evaluate any kind of drug at all. As you said quite eloquently, Dr. Kalant, obviously nothing that is of benefit is without risk. We all know that if you take enough Aspirins, you're going to bleed to death with a stomach ulcer if you've taken a bottle of them. I think we know that.
I wanted to talk somewhat about a report from the CMAJ that called for the decriminalization of marijuana, because they said—and I'm quoting from them—that they think the problem that people talked about in terms of lung cancer, and I agree.... I think there are large amounts of tar and benzopyrenes in cannabis, but as the medical association and the medical journal said, you don't smoke a pack of marijuana cigarettes a day, as you tend to do with tobacco, so some of that effect in terms of lung cancer may be mitigated because of the small amounts that people may smoke. I wanted to ask you about that.
There's a second thing I wanted to ask you about. Obviously, I think we have known all along that the long-term effects of cognitive problems coming from the smoking of marijuana over long periods amongst young people, under about 40, are high and that we in fact...the incidents of young people, of parents, who are smoking. But I think one needs to counterbalance that with the dangers of alcohol in a pregnant mother, which creates not only physical but severe mental and cognitive problems.
I think while we agree that marijuana has harms—I don't think anyone is suggesting that it doesn't—here's what I think I would like to hear from you. Do you think that if one decriminalizes, as the Canadian Medical Association Journal suggested, what you would do is at least rid us of some of the social and legal harms? It is my understanding that 600,000 Canadians have criminal records for the possession of cannabis, and that leads to some harm. It leads to social and legal harm when you have young people trying to get in the army and some people trying to get into university fined. I know that in the United States it's three strikes and you're out. You can never get into university if you've been caught with cannabis three times.
I want you to talk a little bit.... I know that you talk about the psychoactive effects, etc., and the neurological effects. I wondered if you have anything to comment on in regard to this as we look at it in comparison with tobacco and alcohol.