Responding to legalized pot could cost province $500,000 next year, say police

The Saskatoon Police Service estimates it will cost $300,000 to $500,000 in 2019 to respond to cannabis legalization that could happen as early as July.

A report that went to the Board of Police Commissioners Wednesday takes a preliminary look at costs that might arise from training more officers to recognize drivers impaired by cannabis, buying equipment that measures impairment, training for its use and retraining police dogs who now identify cannabis as an illegal substance.

Police will still have work to do related to cannabis because the new law will limit its production and sale, and it’s expected there will still be an underground and illegal cannabis regime, Saskatoon Mayor Charlie Clark said Thursday after the Board of Police Commissioners meeting.

“Some of the impacts on police resources and training (are now) geared toward cannabis being a completely illegal substance and (there is) potential for retraining and looking at some of our systems and having to change them,” Clark said.

The board will send the preliminary report to Premier Scott Moe, several cabinet ministers and all Saskatoon MLAs.

The federal government has said 75 per cent of excise tax revenues will be given to provinces and territories, with a portion going to municipalities to cover costs, including creating bylaws, administration and policing. However, Clark said that none of the provinces, including Saskatchewan, have committed to sharing the revenues with municipalities.

“The revenues should follow the costs … otherwise you have the municipalities subsidizing the province,” he said.

Clark said he doesn’t know how much revenue might be generated as prices have not yet been set, but estimates are in the “multiple millions of dollars provincewide.”

The city expects to work with SGI to cover some costs in police training for cannabis enforcement, as it now does with alcohol, said Saskatoon police Chief Troy Cooper.

While the Saskatchewan Liquor and Gaming Authority regulates who can sell alcohol and where, municipalities will be expected to impose controls, with rules about how far cannabis retailers must stay away from schools being one of the main concerns. Broadway Avenue will likely be the area most affected, he said.

Clark wants to make a decision based on evidence about safety rather than simply what feels good. A query to the health authority has not garnered helpful information so far, he said.