Madam Chair, rehabilitation and treatment are one thing, but getting the person to that point is another.
In the meantime, something needs to be done, because people are still dying. Two young women died in my riding last week. We could be doing something to stop these things from happening.
Declaring a state of emergency would give us plenty of tools we could use to prevent deaths. Last summer, naloxone kits, which help slow the effects of an overdose, were not available in my riding, and there were seven overdoses. The organization Dopamine ended up having to call a pharmacy to order them. Steps should be taken to make naloxone kits available. Sometimes, the drug is so powerful that a single kit may not even be enough.
In light of all this, does the member not think there are some very practical steps we could be taking to save lives?