Thank you, Minister Blaney, for appearing today on this important bill.
In your opening remarks, you stated that approximately 15 out of 20 offenders who are admitted to federal penitentiaries require some sort of substance abuse program. I think this ties into the very fact that many serious crimes are related to individuals who struggle with illegal drug use, with addictions of some sort, or are crimes that are connected to the illegal drug industry.
This may sound like a silly question, but do you think Canadians would think that a government should simply turn a blind eye on illegal drug use in prisons, given the fact that in many cases these inmates are in prison related to the very same issue that we're trying to stop in this bill? A second part to that question is do you think that Canadians think, in addition to simply turning a blind eye, they should be able to do this without any sort of ramification?