Madam Chair, I disagree with some of the member's comments, particularly in relation to gateway drugs. A special Senate committee in 2001 debunked a lot of that.
I want to focus on what we agree on. The member said that there has been a lot of positive work done in Portugal and in Switzerland. We know that in Switzerland, they provide a clean and regulated supply of drugs to those addicted. In Portugal, they take a health-focused approach.
I want to ask not about decriminalization but about the idea of the people we want to help. Forget traffickers and forget producers. If we want to treat patients as patients and not as criminals, does the member think we can move out of criminal courts for people with small possession of all drugs and move toward health-focused panels made up of medical health practitioners and social workers, a proposal supported by the Canadian Mental Health Association? I know she has spoken very positively about attacking mental health issues.