Supply  I have two questions for the hon. member. First, does the hon. member personally support the medical use of marijuana in Canada as it has been proposed? Second, does he support the city of Vancouver's proposal for safe injection sites? Those are two fairly straightforward questions and I would be interested in the hon. member's views.

Supply  Casual users do not know the strength of street heroin and mixing alcohol with heroin dramatically increases the risk for overdose. Experimentation with marijuana in Vancouver has risen by 50% in the last five years to 58% of the 17 year olds interviewed. Other areas of concern are HIV and hepatitis C infection, increased drug misuse among youth, inadequate treatment services and the relationship between crime and substance abuse.

Supply  As I said before, they are right now shooting between their toes because there is no other place in their arms to shoot up. This is not just about the legalization of marijuana. This is about cocaine, ecstasy, LSD and heroin. It is about things that kill and addict people. That is what the committee has to wrestle with. The question I have for the hon. member who just spoke is this.

Supply  I would hope and think that would be part of this study. I tend to agree that we should decriminalize marijuana. That happens to be our party's policy. I really do not have a view on whether we should decriminalize ecstasy, or heroin or cocaine. I suspect we are dealing with more addictive drugs, at least that is what I am given to understand.

Proceeds Of Crime (Money Laundering) Act  We cannot just say that all this money is coming from organized crime and a lot of it is coming from drugs unless we are willing to examine Canada's drug policies and recognize that they need to be seriously reformed. For example, even with marijuana we see the stories about grow operations in the papers all the time. In east Vancouver there are media reports of various grow busts taking place. We are talking about multimillion dollar operations.

Medical Use Of Marijuana  Speaker, the Ontario court has awarded a constitutional exemption to an individual with AIDS to enable him to use and grow marijuana for medical purposes, because the federal government is so slow in providing marijuana to the terminally ill. In the light of this new situation, what does the Minister of Health intend to do?

Youth Criminal Justice Act  I said: “There must be about 35 of them. This has to stop”. He said “Elsie”, and I said “I have been watching”. It was marijuana. I hear on the Hill about the possibility of decriminalizing smaller amounts of marijuana. I did a lot of research on it out of California and New York City. We do not want to decriminalize marijuana.

Parliament Of Canada Act  It is more like a rural freak show—a railway town without a railway—where most people make their money in the fall either by catering to deer hunters or by bringing in the marijuana harvest from up in the hills behind the village. Many of the older residents are the simple Ottawa Valley folk who are the butt of so many recycled Newfie jokes— I wanted to read this fictionalized garbage into the record, and there is more, to emphasize the emotional effect that words can have on a listener.

Criminal Code  Judges will have to determine whether the forfeiture is appropriate given the nature of the crime. Presumably a house may not be forfeited if five marijuana plants are found in it but it could be if 500 or 5,000 plants are found in it. There are still many significant deficiencies in the bill that require further address or amendments.

Criminal Code  As well, there is the whole question of cornfields and farmers. It does not take boy scouts to be able to plant entire fields of marijuana and to intimidate farmers. Organized crime is behind that. A look at the map of Quebec makes it very clear—and this is what all Bloc Quebecois MPs from this region are also saying—that there are many such crops.

An Act To Amend The Contraventions Act And The Controlled Drugs And Substances Act (Marijuana)  moved for leave to introduce Bill C-503, an act to amend the Contraventions Act and the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act (marijuana). Mr. Speaker, this bill seeks to decriminalize, not legalize, the simple possession of marijuana. The reason is quite simple. In our justice system today, the resources our police have to do their job and to prosecute are severely limited.

Supply  Yes, I think this is something that must be used and considered. On the subject of the legalization of marijuana, the link may not be so direct, because it is in hard drugs such as heroin and cocaine that organized crime deals. I think we have to look at this. Our colleague will recall the excellent work done by the member for Rosemont to have marijuana legalized for therapeutic purposes.

Supply  Speaker, what I want to know, because it is often suggested, is this: regarding the control of marijuana fields by criminal gangs, if marijuana were made legal, would this not put criminals out of business? Could that be a solution? I would like my colleague to comment on that.

Supply  I also think that, so far, police forces have helped each other out. We saw this in Quebec with the marijuana raids. RCMP and Sûreté officers have worked together to eradicate marijuana. This co-operation is of several years' standing and should be continued.

Marijuana  Speaker, this morning, the Minister of Justice said she was open to the idea of decriminalizing the simple possession of drugs. However we know that those who use marijuana for therapeutic purposes are in a particularly difficult situation. Would the minister agree to move quickly for those already using marijuana for therapeutic purposes so that they no longer have to face the threat of being charged?