Chief supports tickets for pot possession
Proposal would save money, time: Bordeleau
Police chiefs and experts agree that handing out tickets to people caught with small amounts of marijuana could save the justice system money and time.
Delegates at the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police passed a resolution this week saying officers need more options when it comes to dealing with people caught with less than 30 grams of pot.
Ottawa police Chief Charles Bordeleau told the Citizen the measure would give police an important “third option” as an alternative to the current choice of either laying criminal charges or not. Since officers usually choose the latter, he said a ticket would also “provide some meaningful consequences to an offender’s actions.”
In 2012, 1,030 people in Ottawa were charged with a marijuana-related drug offence.
Dawn Moore, a legal studies professor at Carleton University, says she’s surprised it took police so long to propose the resolution.
“Police have been fed up with marijuana laws for the last 10 years, recognizing that they’re not a particularly good use of police resources,” she said.
When police charge people with possession, they’re faced with several extra steps, including collecting evidence and prosecution. Changes in drug laws haven’t been followed by changes in drug usage in other jurisdiction, because users aren’t dissuaded by the law, Moore said.
“People don’t make their choice about whether or not they’re going to smoke pot on whether it’s in the Criminal Code,” she said. “There’s no reason to think that, if you move toward a decriminalization model, that everyone and their grandmother will become a pothead.”
Other jurisdictions, including some Australian and U.S. states, have tried the ticketing method and found it increases enforcement, said Eugene Oscapella, an Ottawa lawyer who teaches drug policy in the University of Ottawa’s criminology department,
But Oscapella believes marijuana should follow a regulated model such as the one Canada has for alcohol. Doing so, he said, would deal with the problems associated with the black market.
“I applaud the chiefs of police in taking an intelligent approach. I hope it’s a stepping stone to a more complete regulatory model that would do away with most of the harms associated with the current criminal justice approach.”
Yet, the chiefs will have a challenge getting the federal government to change the Contraventions Act.
Justice Minister Peter MacKay said in an email to The Canadian Press Tuesday that the federal government has no intention of legalizing or decriminalizing marijuana.
“These drugs are illegal because of the harmful effects they have on users — and on society for that matter. As a government, we have a responsibility to protect the interests of families across this country.”
Bordeleau, stressing that tickets constitute neither legalization nor decriminalization, said he still hopes the chiefs can clarify the proposal for MacKay and his colleagues.
Bordeleau also noted that the tickets, as part of a federal system, would not be a revenue stream for the Ottawa police.