Did you know that cannabis profits financed the Quebec Breastfeeding Movement? Or the Quebec Association for the Distribution of Fruits and Vegetables? Or even Équiterre?
I understood that the money from jar sold by the State was to be used to support research and treatment of addiction to cannabis and various substances, as indicated by the law. This Cannabis law is the one that gave birth to the Société québécoise du cannabis (SQDC) in 2018.
But this is not what emerges from the report recently submitted to the National Assembly by Minister Lionel Carmant, responsible for the Cannabis Prevention and Research Fund (FPRMC)1.
By examining the document, we even see that nearly 60% of the 115 million disbursed by the Fund last year were used for something other than research on cannabis or the treatment of dependencies on various drugs, including alcohol and the tobacco.
In addition to the Quebec Breastfeeding Movement, cannabis money is paid to organizations such as Vivre en ville, the Association québécoise de la garde scolaire, the Five Spice Workshops or the Perinatal Reference Service for immigrant women.
I know, you will tell me that these are good missions, which also include suicide prevention (7.3 million from the FPRMC), mental health among young people (23.8 million) or accommodation for homeless people ( 15 million), according to the document.
I do not deny it. And I understand community organizations are delighted with this money given their very tight finances.
But these missions clearly deviate from the essence of the Cannabis law. According to the law, “the fund is allocated to finance: 1° surveillance and research activities and programs concerning the effects of cannabis on the state of health of the population; 2° curative care related to the use of cannabis; (3) activities and programs for the prevention of the harm caused by cannabis and the promotion of health. »
In the office of the minister responsible, Lionel Carmant, we rely on these four words, “health promotion”, to broaden the scope of the law, but is it not excessive to inject 60% of the funds into it? ?
That’s not all. Before the windfall from this cannabis fund, the government had already planned to invest in these missions from other envelopes, amounts which are no longer there today. In short, the money jar is sometimes diverted, indirectly, towards other needs2.
This is the case for mental health among young people, but especially for the Government Health Prevention Policy (PGPS), adopted in 2017, before the legalization of cannabis.
In this policy, the government committed in 2017 to paying 20 million per year to the Ministry of Health and Social Services (MSSS) from its general funds. However, now that the profits of jar abound – much more than expected – it is the cannabis fund which finances this policy at the MSSS.
According to the accountability document, precisely 19.8 million from the FPRMC were used for this purpose, including 12.4 million to finance external organizations such as Équiterre and the Lactation Movement. Often, these organizations do not know, moreover, that they are financed in part by cannabis money, according to what they tell me.
“Not all”
Lucie Charlebois, the former liberal minister who developed the Cannabis law – finally adopted under the CAQ – is categorical.
“The Health Prevention Policy (PGPS) has nothing to do with the cannabis fund. Not all. I had worked on this policy, then filed under the CAQ. According to what the cannabis law says, cannabis funds were to go to cannabis and addictions, not anything else,” she explains to me over the phone.
The former minister, who then carried out a lot of consultations, knows something about it. “As you know, I had alcohol problems myself. I got out of it. But I can tell you that a lot of people need help, more than you might think. That’s where the money should go,” she says.
An example ? To undergo therapy with psychologists and nurses, dependent people must pay $5,200 out of their own pocket to Maison Jean Lapointe. Not a penny comes from the Ministry of Health or the cannabis fund3.
On this subject, a question arises: why write laws, voted by elected officials, if their essence is not respected?
Patrick Taillon, law professor at Laval University, indeed notes that “some of the expenses exceed the purposes of the law”.
So what ? “In theory, we can attack these expenses and the funding would be canceled. But it’s hard to see who would have an interest in doing so,” he explains.
In other words, the government authorizes itself to spend “beyond reasonableness and a relevant interpretation of the constituting law” given the good causes of public health and the absence of disputes, Mr. Taillon explains to me.
Figures that contradict each other
In addition to the legal aspect, the document to the National Assembly says a lot about the approximate accountability of the Fund.
Last January, the MSSS told me that the Fund had spent 110.5 million during the 2022-2023 fiscal year. The figure is consistent with data from the public accounts, the government’s financial bible.
However, the reporting document submitted in April to the National Assembly puts the Fund’s expenditure at 115.1 million for the same year. How is it possible ? The money, it should be noted, was spent more than 12 months ago already.
Another incongruity: in January, the MSSS indicated to me in a detailed table that the Fund had devoted 77.3 million to the component it calls “health promotion, prevention and harm reduction”. However, in April, the figure offered to elected officials became 67.9 million in the accountability document.
Same kind of change for “preventive and curative dependency services”, whose expenditure increased from 25.8 million to 34 million between January and April. I repeat, the expenses were incurred more than 12 months ago.
In short, the management of the Cannabis Prevention and Research Fund, although regulated by law, could not be more shaky.
And since a large part of the funds are scattered among sub-organizations of the Ministry of Health, it is impossible to know whether they are serving the targeted missions.
The minister responsible for Social Services, Lionel Carmant, refused to grant me an interview to explain these discrepancies in the Fund.
As explained above, the minister judges that the law allows him to spend on health promotion. “Investing on a multitude of fronts is the most effective way to contribute to an overall healthier society,” his office wrote to me.
1. Consult the document from the Quebec Ministry of Health and Social Services
2. During the 2022-2023 financial year, the SQDC paid 233 million to the government in profits, excise taxes and QST. A large part finances the Cannabis Prevention and Research Fund.
3. Excluding social assistance recipients.