Briefly, this is the second tier of amendments to try to amend the criminal sanctions in this bill to a more reasonable view. This would reduce the jail sentence from 14 years down to two years less a day for indictment, and for offences that are under 14 years currently in the bill, it would replace it with summary conviction only.
This is a difficult area of the bill, as are others, and I do have some empathy for the government's attempt to struggle with this, but what animates these amendments is the prospect of.... In a province like Alberta, Manitoba, or Quebec, where the drinking age is 18, and I expect that the age for consumption of marijuana would be 18, we'll have a situation where a 19-year-old could give some illicit cannabis to a 17-year-old, and that 19-year-old would face, under this act, up to 14 years in prison.
While I am empathetic to the arguments of trying to protect our children, and none of us want to see underage people have cannabis, the reality in this country is that they do. The reality is that after this bill takes place, there is still going to be illicit cannabis produced. The question is what the appropriate policy response is. What is the appropriate regulatory regime?
Having a 19-year-old face a potential jail sentence of 14 years for exchanging illicit cannabis with someone who is 17 strikes me as a continuation of the very prohibitionist, criminalized model, which hasn't worked to date and which the majority of Canadians don't feel is appropriate. It is not going to work as an effective deterrent, in any event.
I would take this opportunity to bring up something that I think is very important, which is education. If we really don't want kids under the age of 18 or 19 to use cannabis, then we should be pouring money into educating them about cannabis use and what its impacts and effects may be on the developing brain and otherwise.
We've heard in the testimony that this government, so far, has committed to education what can only be described as a paltry $9 million over five years. We heard testimony from Chief Isadore Day, from Ontario, that, as far as he knows, there is no money given to indigenous communities in this country for education. Compare that with Colorado or Washington state, where they are spending that amount every year on one-fifth or one-seventh the population of Canada.
We did hear the Minister of Health say that this is just the beginning and that there will be more money, but we are about nine and a half months, maybe 10 months from legalization on July 1. I am waiting for my colleague Ms. Gladu to tell us how many days we have.