How will VPD handle officers who smoke pot?
Vancouver force creating policy for both discipline and to help substance abusers
Canadian cops will go from cracking down on cannabis to being potential consumers as of the Oct. 17 legalization date, which has police agencies rushing to update workplace policies around substance use and impairment.
“We can’t prohibit members from using it, because it will be a legal substance,” said Vancouver Police Department Supt. Martin Bruce. “Our message to them is to make informed decisions around usage to ensure they perform their duties sober.”
The VPD’s policy around substance use is that police officers must show up for work unimpaired by alcohol or prescription medication.
“The legalization of cannabis adds a layer to the other substances,” said Bruce, who is in charge of personnel services for the force.
However, Bruce said the difference, and the challenge, is there is a lot of conflicting information about how the level of impairment varies from smoking cannabis versus consuming high-potency edibles.
“Our members have been around cannabis for goodness knows how many years,” Bruce said, “It’s legalization that’s the new piece.”
And on that front, training will be geared toward giving officers enough information on the drug and impairment, “to make sensible choices based on the occupation they’re in.”
However, the unknowns about how cannabis affects individuals differently will make setting workplace policies challenging, said Vancouver Police Department union president Tom Stamatakis.
“Science is not developed enough to tell us with any certainty what effect smoking a joint will have on me versus you, versus someone else,” Stamatakis said.
Stamatakis’ view is cannabis should be treated the same way alcohol and prescription drugs are in existing policies, which put the onus on police officers to show up fit for duty, or face the consequences for being impaired at work.
Under the Police Act, Bruce said officers face discipline ranging from a reprimand to outright dismissal, depending on the severity of any incident.
Stamatakis said his concern is police departments might overreact in revising their policies, though he doesn’t see that happening in Vancouver.
“One concern is that we’re trying to create policy, from an employer perspective, in a context that’s not really certain,” Stamatakis said.
Cannabis was high on the list of topics covered at this year’s Canadian Association of Police Chiefs convention in Halifax, where Bruce made a presentation on a national training initiative around enforcement of the incoming legislation. Bruce said it was an RCMP-led effort, with the Canadian Police Knowledge Network developing an online course available to all police agencies.
The course includes a module on cannabis use and the workplace.
He said discussion at the conference focused on “sharing ideas about how we’re going to manage an issue that affects all of us.”
Cannabis will also add another element to be included in the force’s substance-abuse programs and services, rather than just discipline.
“Our philosophy is to encourage people to come forward with any problems so we can ensure they get the proper resources to work through it,” Bruce said.
The VPD is in the final stages of revising its impairment policy to account for cannabis, which will include training.
“It will remind members of the services available to them, it will warn them about potential liability of the use of cannabis, while respecting that it is a legal product,” Bruce said.