Use time to your advantage

As coy as the federal Liberals are playing it on the date for legalization of cannabis, apparently the deadline can shift. Canadians were mildly bemused late last year when Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, after a long-held target of July 1 of this year, divulged that Canada Day 2018 wouldn’t necessarily be when it happens. Well, maybe it wasn’t such a big surprise, given all the pieces that need to be in place regarding sales and enforcement of rules.

Now the estimate of mid-August is being bandied about.

At any rate, what that does add to the subject is that the extra time pleaded for by police, municipalities and provincial governments has indeed been possible all along. It’s more so the whims of the federal government setting the agenda on this.

On that note, in the meantime, charges continue to be laid against those jumping the gun on cannabis commerce. As federal government representatives and police spokespersons have said, the law’s the law, until it isn’t. That means those nailed with simple possession of even modest amounts can still face criminal charges for something that will be entirely legal later this year.

It also means the “grey” marijuana market is a target for police. A number of centres and privately owned stores in the province that have set up relatively recently have been raided by police.

One expert on criminology says this makes no sense. Michael Boudreau, of St. Thomas University in Fredericton, told the Chronicle Herald that the police activity is a waste of police resources.

And of course that’s all part of the reason for legalization — that nabbing people for small quantities of cannabis and putting them on the prosecution treadmill comes at a great cost and effort to the law enforcement and justice systems. Of cases that have cropped up, Boudreau said police have provided little evidence to link the stores to criminal activity, and also that they were selling more medicinal marijuana than recreational.

We typically observe governments doing things wrong before slowly, ultimately — we hope — getting them turned toward right. It’s no different here, with Nova Scotia and many of the provinces setting the system up to have these new products sold in liquor stores.

Boudreau said governments, rather than targeting the private sellers, should be taking advantage of their expertise. They, after all, know this product, whereas liquor store staff will be learning from scratch.

On the subject of learning from scratch, police forces could also be using their time more wisely on this front. Rather than continue to chase around applying a moribund law, why aren’t they using the time leading up to legalization to their advantage?

We hope to soon see new technology developed to detect marijuana impairment in drivers, for example. In the meantime, officers will have to use their own methods of observation and judgment to suspect someone is under the influence — of cannabis or any drug. Police forces have complained that they need time to brush up on these skills. OK then, put the pointless raids on the backburner. It’s training session time.