Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
I would like to speak briefly to Mr. Cotler's amendment. In fairness, I'll say at the outset I do not propose to support it. However, having said that, I believe Mr. Cotler has put his finger on a real problem, and that is that the incidence of mental illness in our prisons is too great. There are people who should not be in prison because they suffer from mental health disorders of various kinds.
Having said that, I will not support this because, first of all, we're dealing with sections that address drug issues, and I'd like to keep the focus on drug treatment. Secondly, I think the issue of mental health disorders in our prisons is a much wider one that deserves wider government study and efforts to address.
Thirdly, and I know Mr. Cotler will know what I mean by this—if I can mangle the language again a little more—I don't want to “psychiatrize” our criminal justice system. In my youth, there were certain socialist East Bloc nations that did purport to put people into psychiatric hospitals for what were really criminal offences. It's a difficult and fine line to draw, and I would like to see a little more government study of this before we go down this path.
But I do want to commend Mr. Cotler for putting his finger on that particular problem.
Thank you.