Honourable senators, I rise today to speak in support of Bill C-45, otherwise known as the cannabis act.

Honourable senators, Canadians are consuming cannabis in large numbers. They are smoking it and they are vaping it. They are making candies out of it, and they are baking with it. And although millions of Canadians use it responsibly, no less so than those amongst us who enjoy our glass of wine at the end of the day, others, both young and old, are using it excessively, often recklessly, with serious consequences to both themselves and to society.

That cannabis use in Canada is a complex social problem, and one that needs to be addressed, is clear. I believe Bill C-45 is the right response to this problem. Allow me to explain why.

Let me begin by stating the obvious. Our current approach is a failure. It has failed spectacularly to reduce the consumption of cannabis in Canada, both by youth and by adults, and has resulted in a large, unregulated and illegal market dominated by criminal elements. This is well documented and needs no elaboration. Indeed, the 2002 Senate report was clear on this point, and as Senators Dean and Pratte have pointed out in their speeches in this chamber, the situation has not improved since then.

Second, the criminalization of cannabis possession compromises our ability to educate Canadians, especially our youth, about the real health risks of cannabis use.

Honourable senators, in expressing my support for Bill C-45 I am not ignoring the health issues surrounding the use of cannabis, including the impact of cannabis use on the developing adolescent brain. I have read several scientific studies in an effort to educate myself on the subject, and although clearly no expert, I am neither ignorant of the science nor indifferent to it.

Nor am I unaware that the cannabis being consumed today is far more potent in THC than that which was available in earlier generations and to earlier generations of users.

But it is precisely because cannabis use can cause harm, especially to those who use it regularly, that I support this bill.

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Let’s not forget that the cannabis being consumed by millions of Canadians is produced in an unregulated, diffuse, illegal market. Its purity and strength are neither known nor monitored. This was confirmed in an article published by La Presse on January 22, 2018, which reported that samples of black market cannabis were found to be contaminated with banned pesticides and fungi. By regulating the production, distribution and sale of cannabis, Bill C-45 will allow Canadians to access a substance that has undergone rigorous quality control and is free from pesticides and other harmful contaminants. Furthermore, Canadians will know what they are consuming. They will know the THC and CBD concentrations of the product they are buying, where it was produced, and who produced it.

In addition, by abandoning our failed policy of criminalizing cannabis possession and consumption, we will be able to acquire the knowledge we need to tackle cannabis-related health problems. Criminalization has hindered our ability to conduct appropriate research on cannabis consumption and its impact on the health and behaviour of individuals. This research is crucial if we want to teach Canadians about responsible cannabis consumption.

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But most importantly, the continued criminalization of cannabis use undermines our ability to credibly educate young Canadians about what we already do know about the risks associated with cannabis use.

By criminalizing cannabis use, we implicitly treat it as the equivalent of drugs that are far more dangerous. By lumping cannabis in with such drugs — by drawing false equivalencies between cannabis and, say, fentanyl, as was done by a parliamentarian in the other place — we encourage young people, already sceptical, to disbelieve everything they hear about drugs in general. Not only does this serve to obscure the real health issues surrounding cannabis, it threatens to undermine our credibility when we warn them of the dangers of speed or crack cocaine.

And this leads me to my third point.

Honourable senators, I believe that the ongoing criminalization of cannabis undermines Canadians’ respect for the criminal law and the legal system in general.

Our current approach exposes tens of thousands of Canadians to the criminal justice system for possession of a substance that, although not without health risks, is less harmful when used responsibly than many other legal substances that Canadians consume freely.

As a matter of principle, this seems to me to be inconsistent with the way the law should be designed in a free and democratic society. And even if you dispute the principle, you should be worried about the fact that so many Canadians are choosing to consume cannabis despite the fact that it is illegal. Respect for the law is undermined when vast numbers of Canadians break the law because they simply do not believe that cannabis possession should be a criminal offence. That’s not a good thing, but it’s a real consequence of continuing our failed policy of trying to use criminal prohibitions to discourage cannabis use.

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Fourth, I support Bill C-45 because the negative social costs of criminalizing cannabis possession, especially on our youth, are enormous and unacceptable.

The overall rates for cannabis-related offences may be falling, but each and every year tens of thousands of Canadians are caught up in the criminal justice system simply because they possess cannabis. In 2016 alone, Statistics Canada reported over 44,000 incidents of cannabis possession, resulting in 17,000 people being charged with possession. In my home province of Quebec alone, there were 5,550 charges laid.

The impact of all of this on youth is especially troubling. Of the total number of incidents involving cannabis possession in 2016, nearly 20 per cent involved youth between the age of 12 and 17.

Although it’s true that not every charge produces a conviction and not every conviction leads to incarceration, the plain fact is that between 2008 and 2012, which is the last period for which we have the figures, there were almost 4,000 people who ended up in custody for possession alone, of whom over 500 were youth.

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Let’s be clear. Our cannabis laws are not enforced evenly in every sector of Canadian society. A middle class child living in the suburbs might get off with a warning from local police. However, countless others might not get off so easily. We cannot and must not remain indifferent to the disproportionate repercussions of our laws on young aboriginal Canadians, members of other racial minorities, and the least fortunate in our society.

Add to that the thriving illegal cannabis market. It is not only making organized crime bosses richer, most of whom carry on with impunity, but it also attracts a significant number of ordinary Canadians whose economic situation or even their own drug addiction might lead them to become involved with illegal growth, distribution, and sale networks of this drug. They are the ones who generally get charged and convicted, but we, as a society, are the ones who are paying the price to maintain this very vast and lucrative illegal market.

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Honourable senators, the fact remains that Canadians are going to consume cannabis whether or not Bill C-45 is enacted into law. The central question for us is whether we are prepared to perpetuate the real social costs of criminalizing such behaviour or whether we are ready to adopt a different and more promising approach to the issue.

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I support Bill C-45 because it respects the legitimate role, interests, and constitutional jurisdictions of the provinces and municipalities by giving them the latitude to adopt the provisions of the legislation in countless ways, including reducing to zero the amount of cannabis that youth can have in their possession without being charged, increasing the minimum age for legal consumption and limiting and eliminating the ability of individuals to grow their own plants for personal use, and by determining how and by whom the distribution and sale of cannabis will occur in the province.

In this regard, Bill C-45 is an opportunity for provinces to experiment with various rules and regimes, be it to solve their health issues or to create an attractive alternative to buying cannabis illegally like it is the case now. As time passes, the different approaches may come to harmonize, to the benefit of Canadian social policy. That is federalism at its best, acting as a kind of social laboratory.

Honourable senators, is Bill C-45 perfect? Of course not. Are there questions which, in my view, need to be seriously examined? Am I concerned by some aspects of the bill? Yes, I am. Let me share some of my concerns with you.

First, I am afraid that an exceedingly restrictive approach to cannabis retail sales might lead to the continued success of the black market. Of course, it is up to provinces to decide, but I hope there will be a sufficient supply and variety of products for Canadians to get what they want with the same ease and at the same cheap price as street resellers provide. If Bill C-45 does not guarantee access to such products at competitive prices, at least by mail, I am afraid that one of these important objectives will be compromised.

Furthermore, I am not convinced that it is useful or necessary to allow people to grow four cannabis plants for their own recreational use. On the supply side, we should make sure that we do not create useless obstacles to integrating small craft growers who could contribute to the amount and diversity of legal cannabis products available to consumers.

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Honourable senators, allow me to conclude by addressing the issue of how we in the Senate ought to proceed with the study of this bill.

I am on record as not feeling bound by the deadline announced by the Prime Minister. Bill C-45 is an important, indeed historic bill, and we must do our constitutional duty to review it carefully and thoroughly. But I am also on record as supporting Senator Dean’s proposal to organize our deliberations and debate in an effective and efficient way. Frankly, I am disappointed that not all groups in this chamber have yet to come on board.

Honourable senators, you know that, if we wanted to, we could agree to structure our study of this bill in time to finish before the summer. We have the time, and we could make the time. It is simply a matter of political will.

No one in this chamber denies that there are serious health issues associated with cannabis use, especially regarding youth and young adults. Can we not agree to discuss this, then, for a fixed period of time, and in real time to boot, and then focus on the real question, which is finding the best way to deal with the challenges posed by the health risks of cannabis use to young Canadians?

We know that there are concerns about whether all provinces, municipalities and police forces will be fully ready to enforce the bill when it comes into force. So let’s organize ourselves to hear from them soon, to debate what we heard and to monitor the situation effectively as we proceed with our study of the bill.

Honourable senators, there is no point in multiplying examples. This is a bill that requires full and proper study. But let us at least be honest with ourselves and with Canadians.

This is not a case where delay serves the legitimate purpose of bringing an issue to the public’s attention about which they were unaware. The legalization of cannabis possession was an election campaign promise made in 2015, and the issue has been in the news for a long time now, especially since the bill was introduced into the other place in April of this year.

Yes, let us take our time, but we have and can make the time to review this bill thoroughly over the next number of months. Whatever else one may think about the desire of the government to see this bill enacted into law by the summer, we would be failing in our constitutional obligations were we to drag this out for political or partisan gain. Canadians deserve better than that.

Honourable senators, I conclude where I began. Cannabis use in Canada is a complex social problem that needs to be addressed. Our previous approaches have clearly failed. We owe it to ourselves, and our children and grandchildren, to confront this in a serious and balanced way.

Bill C-45 is a step towards a more responsible approach to dealing with the issue of cannabis use. The bill is not perfect, and we should take time to improve it where appropriate, but it is the right response to a real problem. I support it in principle with no hesitation whatsoever.