From police chief to pot boss: Blair to lead legalization charge

Rules could piggyback on alcohol, tobacco regulations, MP says

OTTAWA— MP Bill Blair, the former Toronto police chief now leading the Trudeau government’s marijuana legalization project, says provincial liquor stores may be the most reasonable place from which to control legal cannabis sales because of the ability to restrict youth access to the drug.

Blair, as parliamentary secretary to Justice Minister Jody Wilson-Raybould, has been asked to head up crafting the government’s policy.

He will work with a three-member cabinet team and a federal-provincial-territorial task force that hasn’t yet been struck, the justice minister’s office said.

Blair defended the Liberal plan from a public safety perspective on Friday while acknowledging that the government has “some work to do” to address public concerns.

He wouldn’t speculate how long it would take to conduct “wide consultations” with public health, law enforcement and provincial and territorial counterparts before a bill is drafted. But Blair said the federal government is looking at the experience in Colorado, Washington state and other jurisdictions that have legalized marijuana sales and distribution where a range of stores, cafés and other retail outlets have sprung up to supply legal marijuana.

“We have pretty robust systems of regulation for other intoxicants in this country, mostly overseen by the provinces and so we’ve already got a model, a framework we can build on here,” he said. “But we want to learn from the experiences of places like Colorado and Washington.

“I think there are certain modifications or adjustments that we may have to make for cannabis as opposed to alcohol, but I think there is already a strong system in place for the control and regulation” of marijuana sales here, Blair said.

Should the federal government go that route, it will find willing partners in Manitoba and Ontario. Premier Kathleen Wynne said last month that legalized marijuana should be sold at provincially owned and regulated Liquor Control Board of Ontario outlets, which are staffed by trained, unionized employees.

“It makes sense to me that the liquor distribution mechanism that we have in place at LCBO is very well-suited to putting in place the social responsibility aspects that

“Frankly, in most urban centres . . . it is far easier for a kid . . . to acquire marijuana than it is to acquire alcohol.” BILL BLAIR LIBERAL MP

would need to be in place,” Wynne said Dec. 14.

Blair said it is “very difficult” for a 14-year-old youth to walk into a liquor store where alcohol is retailed in Ontario and buy a bottle of booze. “You’re going to come up against a government employee who’s got regulations to enforce and is going to ask for identification and if a person’s under age, they’re not going to be able to buy that.

“And that’s a far better way to regulate access (to marijuana) for kids than leaving it up to some criminal in a stairwell. Frankly, in most urban centres across this country, it is far easier for a kid, an underaged youth, to acquire marijuana than it is to acquire alcohol.”

Blair said there still needs to be strict regulation and a penalty for supplying alcohol and cannabis to youngsters “and those laws need to be enforced, but it doesn’t necessarily have to be done under the criminal law.” He pointed to a 2014 study produced by the Centre for Addictions and Mental Health that recommended legalization with strict regulation to control the social and health harms associated with marijuana use. “All of that made perfect sense to me as a police chief and as a person responsible for community safety.”

Blair’s appointment to help steer marijuana law reforms won early praise from Canada’s police chiefs, who continue to voice caution about the proposed changes, after calling in 2013 for Ottawa to give police discretionary power to issue a ticket for simple possession of small amounts of marijuana. It was a recommenda- tion the Harper government never acted on. Saskatoon police Chief Clive Weighill, who is president of the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police, said Blair has a “formidable challenge” ahead but would understand policing concerns given his background.

Weighill said there will be “many questions and concerns” that will need to be addressed, depending on how the government decides to move ahead with its pledge. “From a policing perspective, youth access to marijuana will always remain a concern as will the impact on impaired driving. There will be a significant impact on the training of our officers and the need for more drug recognition experts in the field,” he said.

The Ontario Association of Chiefs of Police said it supported the statement by the Canadian association. Blair served as president of both during his time as Toronto police chief. With files from Bruce Campion-Smith and Robert Benzie