Mr. Speaker, I listened carefully to the member's excellent speech and I want to pull the two issues together.
The member from the Conservative Party brought up a concern that many people have, but it is based in many ways on convenient mythology. The reality is the status quo actually benefits organized crime. Prohibition benefits organized crime. Portugal decriminalized simple possession of a number of currently illegal drugs.
By all means, go after the top tiers of organized crime and throw the book at those criminals. However, the key to going after organized crime is going after its financial supports. The worst thing for organized crime would be if we ruined its market and one way to do that is to decriminalize simple possession, for example, of marijuana and allow people to have a couple of plants. It is presently illegal. What Portugal found was that drug use, organized crime, crime, harm and costs decreased.
Does my colleague not think that decriminalizing, at least to start, the simple possession of marijuana would destroy the financial underpinnings of organized crime, accomplishing the objectives we all have in the House?