You stated to Mr. Murphy that you're opposed to mandatory minimum sentences because they interfere with judicial discretion. Then you said judicial discretion, in your position, was working well with respect to controlled drugs and substances. I don't know if you've had the opportunity to peruse the Statistics Canada report that came out today, Trends in police-reported drug offences in Canada. Probably you haven't; it just came out today. I will quote from it for your benefit, and I encourage you to study it in some detail, because it might fly somewhat in the face of your position that judicial discretion is working well with respect to controlled drugs and substances.
It tracks all the drugs--cannabis, cocaine, heroin, and others--and then the totals on an annual basis from 1997 to 2007. It shows some alarming trends. In 2007, the last year that stats are available for, drug offences were at their highest point in 30 years. They've been increasing steadily since 1993. Cannabis is up. Thankfully heroin is down. Cocaine is up exponentially. There were 897 police incidents in 1997, and 22,819 incidents in 2007, a growth rate of several hundred times. Many of these police-reported offences have been or are allegedly being committed by youth.
I'm curious as to the statistical study.... Is it just anecdotal, or is it merely an opinion that the system is working well?