The members are all progressive in thinking.
On the question, there is no doubt that the intent of the legislation is not to criminalize people who use the drug, but at the same time I do not think the country and the government have taken the time to figure out what a real drug strategy should be.
Yesterday the RCMP came before the special subcommittee that is looking at marijuana, and I would hate to be in their shoes because the directions are so inconsistent. As I said earlier, in our country government departments are spending over half a billion dollars a year, with 95% of that money being spent in drug suppression, in other words, reducing the supply of marijuana in the country.
That is over half a billion dollars, yet at the same as a society, because we do not know how to deal with youth and adults who consume marijuana recreationally, we are at a point now where we are going to take half measures to make sure that those people are not labelled as criminals.
If they get caught with less than 15 grams of marijuana, they are going to get a parking ticket fine. Maybe the first offence would be $100. In fact, the current legislation does not even increase the fine. It does not even take away one's driver's licence. At this time, on the whole issue of drunk driving, there are not even any provisions to test a person who might be high on marijuana. It just does not make any sense. I do not think the country is ready for it. I do not think the police enforcement people are ready for it.
In fact, I think that basically they have just been told. I asked the RCMP members if they even were consulted before this piece of legislation came to the House. I do not believe they were. I believe that they were just told it was going to happen and it would be their problem as to how they would deal with it.
This country needs a debate in terms of how we should deal with drugs. Either we decriminalize or legalize, like we have done with other products that were prohibited in the past. As we know, alcohol was prohibited south of the border. It never was in this country. If prohibition does not work, let us figure out a solution. Maybe it is time for governments to grow it, control it, sell it and tax it to death, like alcohol.