Thank you, Chair.
Reading from our briefing notes as they relate to veterans—I just want your reaction to this—the most recent data available from the department is that $31 million was spent on cannabis in the first half of 2016-17. This is reimbursement to veterans. The most current data reported is that we've spent $63.7 million on medical marijuana in 2016-17, triple the amount of the year before.
If there is that much take up of medical marijuana in the veterans community.... I've experienced this personally in the special needs community. Some of them have Dravet, and I missed the testimony. In the Dravet community and such, to get a—at least in my area of the world, which is Ontario—medical marijuana prescription, you can do it by a doctor on Skype, largely. You never meet the doctor. It's by Skype. They call them Skype doctors. You're probably familiar with those.
Do you think there is enough understanding through the medical community to justify this kind of growth in the veterans community of the use of medical marijuana? I'm not making a judgment call here whether it's needed or not needed. These numbers are off the map, from what I can see.