Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, I travelled with the southern group. I guess the main thing that I just want to touch on a bit would be the education or research aspect of cannabis.
We went to three schools. We talked to high school students in three different schools, as you know, Mr. Chair, and it appeared as though the students themselves were fairly up to speed on cannabis. It is very easy for students to do research, not like when we were in high school. We had to go through a lot of books in order to educate ourselves. Now students see a lot of things on the Internet, and it is easier for them to go to a link to learn about things like cannabis.
There still is a lot of education to be had and a lot of education that will come as a result of legalization because they will be able to do research. It is a lot easier to research a legal product than it is to try to accumulate research on illegal products. I think that is an important aspect of it.
I think that cannabis, marijuana, or whatever we wish to call it, is definitely in the communities. I am not sure that the legalization of cannabis will increase the usage. I am not talking about individual uses; I am talking about the number of people who choose to smoke cannabis. I am not sure it will increase. I guess we will wait and see what happens, but it appears as though the one thing that the students wanted was some education.
Now there is an opportunity for government or other organizations to research and study the effects of the usage of cannabis, and the different levels of usage, also. If there is chronic usage of anything, it's not good for you. Even with alcohol, some people have no issue with alcohol. Some people can go home and have a drink almost every day, or every day, and they're not affected by it, because that's what it is, a drink, and some people can't stop at one.
If marijuana is a product where individuals, I'm not necessarily talking about the population as a whole, but individuals, are unable to stop at one point, then they are going to be spending all of their money on that, and it could adversely affect the family unit, no question about it.
The other thing that we found that was interesting is the economy of it. The economy with the grow operations of it, and even the retail of marijuana. People don't have a really good sense of it, because, so far, all of the people making the money are making money illegally, so they're not reporting it.
At some point, when the reporting becomes mandatory that, in order to sell marijuana, you're going to have to get a licence, and once you sell marijuana, you're going to be taxed on it, by the amount of taxes paid out, it will indicate how much marijuana would work itself into the economy. I am not 100 per cent sure, but I know that there are countries that were in deep economic trouble, and then recognized that it appeared as though they should be in worse condition than they actually were, and the reason was because of the illegal trade of cannabis or marijuana or products from that, whether it be hash oil, butter, whatever you make out it, food that has cannabis in it, but that's kind of like an economy. It is capable of driving an economy.
In the NWT, we're not a huge population, but we don't really know how much it plays into the economy. We know that there is money in there, and there is money changing hands. We know that for sure. I think everybody knows that, but how much would be something that we are going to know. Probably a year after cannabis becomes legal, we are going to know how much it plays into the economy. I think, at that point, individuals would have more research and more information about exactly what the impacts would be, positive impacts on themselves as businesspeople, if they were to get into the retail or the growing of cannabis.
Also, on a personal note, just from my own history in the Northwest Territories, what I have seen was that marijuana was a pretty good product when you compare it with other types of products that are out there, and I am talking about alcohol. In my hometown, it was a pretty rough place when I was a young man growing up in Fort Resolution, and there was a lot of alcohol. There were a lot of issues. There were a lot of serious issues. There were a lot of deaths as a result of alcohol, and a lot of those people replaced the usage of alcohol with smoking pot. I would rather be hanging around a bunch of pot smokers than a bunch of drinkers any day. It is a lot safer. That is what I think people have seen in the community.
A lot of individuals are talking about the fear of mixing the two, and things like that. That doesn't really happen. You have a drinker. He's a drinker, and he's going to party. They are going to go to the bar. They are going to drink. They are going to drink at home, do whatever. It does become an unsafe situation. They do create unsafe situations. The North Slave Correctional is filled with people who have committed a crime while consuming alcohol or as a result of having consumed too much alcohol. The same with down in Hay River with the South Slave Correctional Centre.
Sometimes, when you really think about it, and if it displaces alcohol, then I think it could be a good substitute if people choose to pick up the pipe or whatever as opposed to drinking alcohol. Some people just can't handle alcohol, but most of the people who have been in trouble and things because of alcohol have smoked marijuana and are doing a lot better.
I think, when it becomes a legal product, this fear about how marijuana is going to be adding to the problem of alcohol I don't think is there, but you never know. We will find out in a year. My guess is that, if it displaces the amount of alcohol, maybe the alcohol sales will go down. Through the revolving fund, we will see that we are not recovering as much money in the revolving fund from alcohol as we would be from marijuana. Wait and see, I guess. I think that is all I have to say. I think I have said enough, actually, Mr. Chairman. Thank you.