North Bay Police Chief Shawn Devine has a lot of questions when it comes to how police manage with the future legalization of marijuana in Canada.
On Thursday, the government is expected to outline its marijuana legislation which is expected to be in place before the summer of 2018.
One of the key points of the legislation to be released is that Canadians will be allowed to carry with them 30 grams of marijuana.
“As a police agency we will follow the directive of the police agencies or the federal legislation,” stated Devine about the issue after Wednesday’s Police Board Meeting.
“Our concerns are first of all in regards to impaired driving, what are we being given as far as financing and equipment that is going to enable us to continue to enforce impaired driving related to marijuana,” added Devine, noting that roadside testing to determine whether someone is impaired from pot use is still in the development stages.
Devine is also concerned about at what age will Canadians be allowed to use pot.
“I have great personal concerns as far as what ages are we looking at 18, 20, 25? There’s a lot of information out there that relates to the use of even marijuana and its effect on young minds and young brains,” said Devine.
North Bay’s Top Cop also wonders what the legalization of marijuana will mean to the D.A.R.E. program which travels and gives an anti-drug message in area schools.
“We will be meeting with our school boards in the next few months talking about our D.A.R.E. program, if and when the legislation comes in with regards to legalization of marijuana, the whole program is going to have to be changed, because D.A.R.E.’s foundation is no drugs so that’s going to be a challenge in itself right there,” said Devine.
While Devine is confident police services like the one in North Bay will adapt to the new legislation, he admits there will be many challenges.
“Policing is resilient, we will move forward,” said Devine.
“Unfortunately a lot of it will come down to costs, whether that’s new training for our officers or equipment. I am more interested in the social aspects of it.”
