Thank you so much, Mr. Chair.
Minister, thank you for being here. I appreciate your opening statement and the responses you've given to my colleagues.
You and I were both here during the 42nd Parliament when your government introduced the Cannabis Act. I remember that a lot of the rationale for that act was a sense that it is wrong to continue to charge and prosecute people through the criminal justice system for personal possession and use of cannabis.
Indeed, we had it confirmed by Ottawa lawyer Michael Spratt during his testimony before the committee how he used to have a fair number of clients who were his to shepherd through the justice system for cannabis-related offences, and that dropped down to zero after the passing of the Cannabis Act, so it had its desired effect.
The problem for many opioid substances, though, is that they're still on the books under our Controlled Drugs and Substances Act. We have had testimony and, indeed, very public proclamations from the City of Vancouver, the Government of B.C. and the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police calling for decriminalization. Indeed, I was very moved at this committee when Staff Sergeant Michael Rowe of the Vancouver Police Department made that very clear connection between the profitability of the illicit drug trade and the link to firearms.
In fact, if you look at what fentanyl has done, one kilogram of fentanyl can now sell for $1.6 million on the market. That is compared to one kilogram of heroin, which sells for $80,000. The profitability is driving gang warfare. Gangs are competing for turf because of the obscene amounts of money they can make off the suffering of people in my province and right across this country.
Minister, we have an opportunity before us as policy-makers. We have many notable stakeholders calling for this. Why, then, are we still debating whether to decriminalize drugs and treat them as the health issue that they so very rightly are?