Mr. Speaker, the purpose of Bill C-231 is to enable judges to get young people into treatment, but also to remind judges and the entire justice system that treatments are available and that a young drug user is not necessarily a criminal. A young drug user may be someone suffering from an undiagnosed or undetected mental illness. Drugs become the remedy that society has failed to provide to these young people.
I am convinced that if we can intervene as soon as possible, before young people start using fentanyl or harder drugs, as was the case with David, then we can turn their lives around. That is why we must not wait until young people are in the justice system as repeat offenders before offering them the chance to get treated. We have to intervene as soon as possible.