NDP-22 is replacing lines 18 to 28 on page 26. This is the drug treatment court. Despite the comments of my friends opposite about drug treatment being an exception if you prove you're an addict, etc., you don't have a mandatory minimum. The concern is that it only refers to participation in a drug treatment court program approved by the Attorney General or established under subsection 720(2) of the Criminal Code. We propose an amendment to replace those provisions with the following:
convicted of an offence under this Part is not required to impose the minimum punishment for the offence for which the person was convicted if the offender is participating in a drug treatment rehabilitation program.
This eliminates the requirements of there being a drug treatment court and they have to successfully complete the program under proposed subsection 10(4) in order to avoid the mandatory minimum.
I'll speak to that. I just wanted to put the amendment on the table first.