Hello. My name is Paul Renaud. I'm very thankful for the opportunity to be here today.
While my wife Judith was principal of the band school in Bella Coola, B.C., I was hired by the Nuxalk Nation as their EDO or economic development officer. As EDO I had the chance to meet many locals and hear their stories. It soon became clear that there was not much job opportunity there, and many people were living on social assistance, even as alcohol and drug use seemed ramped up, particularly as pharmaceuticals were paid for by the government and children were also medicated under doctors' orders.
One day I decided to go to court, which was being held quarterly in the basement of the band administration building. I was astonished and dismayed by how much of the court's time was being taken up by cannabis offences and how many of the plaintiffs were young, in their teens and twenties. It seemed a cruel use of the judiciary. At the same time, it was clear to me that cannabis was being used by many in the community to help avoid alcohol, but because of the risks of having consumed cannabis, people were reluctant to talk about it.
Because cannabis shows promise in treating a wide variety of ailments, it will, like pharmaceuticals, be prescribed to children to be administered in schools, just like other drugs. This context provides the basis for some very important education about cannabis: it is primarily medicine.
As has already been noted by many, the line between recreational and medicinal use is not clear. Gabor Maté's definition of addiction is any behaviour that has negative consequences that one is compelled to persist in and relapse into and crave despite those negative consequences. With this in mind, the possibility of any person's—including a young person's—using cannabis to avoid alcohol or other more harmful drugs and having a positive outcome may not fit the definition of addiction and certainly should not be considered an offence. Youth cannot be criminalized for alcohol possession. What sense does it make to criminalize them for cannabis?
There seems to be mounting evidence, which some may call anecdotal, that cannabis is useful in avoiding other, more harmful substances. I've heard people say that this is not really quitting, just switching one drug for another. While that may be somewhat true, the principle of harm reduction is sound, and wherever abstinence may not be achievable, a reduced use of a more harmful substance may be a positive outcome.
The average age among first nations people is very young compared with the rest of Canada. Any laws or public health policies that affect young people will affect first nations youth disproportionately, just as incarceration rates also show.
The Government of Canada, led by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, has indicated a willingness to engage with first nations in a deeper, more meaningful, and productive way. Because nations are so plagued by substance abuse issues and already have many people using cannabis, they may benefit—