Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you to our witnesses for joining us today.
As I've listened to your opening comments and some of the early questions, I must admit I am alarmed. I'm not overly surprised, but as my colleague opposite mentioned, there appears to be an introduction of fear into this. However, fear was part of the initial debate in the original InSite development, and that debate has settled down.
As I listened to both Mr. Skof and Mr. McCormack, I'm not sure what has settled down. It sounds like the reality, from your perspectives....
In my limited time, I'm going to address my questions to both Mr. Skof and Mr. McCormack.
It sounds to me that the issue is as significant as it was at the beginning of the InSite debate and discussion, with users injecting, as Mr. McCormack said, four to six times per day. Where do they get their drugs? How do they pay for them? They turn to crime.
That is a difficult part of this equation in terms of balancing where we as a committee are going to take this bill. During our first meeting on this bill, we heard testimony regarding how the government's national anti-drug strategy aims to prevent drug abuse through its prevention action plan.
Mr. Skof, could you comment on the importance of continuing this strategy and any work your police force may do collaboratively in this regard? Then I'll ask Mr. McCormack the same question.