Madam Speaker, our communities face real problems around poverty, homelessness and substance abuse, things in which the member has an interest. We all know the plague this has on our communities.
There is a project in Vancouver run by the outstanding researcher Dr. Julio Montaner, who is now the president of the world HIV-Aids continuum and one of the best researchers in the world. The NAOMI project is a narcotics substitution project. It essentially gives people legal narcotics and disengages them from committing crimes, going out on the street, sharing needles and accessing heroin and other narcotics illegally.
This project has allowed some of the toughest narcotic abusers in Vancouver to get back on their feet and to integrate and become a part of society. It disengages them from organized crime and criminal behaviour and allows them to access medical care.
Does my friend believe that projects like the NAOMI project, as part of a harm reduction strategy, should be widely available? Should the government terminate its ideological approach to these harm reduction strategies that have proven to work? Should the government halt its legal attempt to block Insite, NAOMI and other harm reduction strategies that have proven to save lives, reduce harm and reduce cost to the taxpayer?