It's a program I'm very supportive of. When I was first named justice minister I had heard about drug treatment courts--of course, if you're in the legal profession, you do--but I got some of the details as to how they work and what we are doing, and these are great steps forward.
They began in the late 1980s in the United States. The idea is to give individuals who have unfortunately become addicted but are not in the business of organized crime or involved with violence, that sort of thing, an alternative to be able to avoid a criminal record, or avoid a conviction, and these are steps in the right direction. We have six of these across Canada. I indicated I believe that in the main estimates you have before you $3.63 million has been allocated to that program. Again, I think it's money well spent. You want to be able to get people who, as you point out, have become addicted off that, get them living productive lives, and this gives them an alternative to getting involved, or continuing involvement, with the criminal justice system and the convictions that go with it.
These are steps in the right direction. They have my complete support, and it's exactly what we should be doing to help these individuals. This is something very different from the people who are using guns, and violence, and organized crime. These are the unfortunate individuals who become addicted, and we want to help them.