Take another look

With pot shops popping up across the country, you could forgive the public for being confused about the law governing them.

But members of a police service should be clear on the law. That’s especially true when their own force is distributing letters warning storefront pot dispensaries that what they’re doing is illegal and police may take action against them if they don’t shut down. That’s because medical marijuana can be obtained only with a prescription via registered mail from one of 35 producers licensed by Health Canada, not from storefronts.

Clear as a bell, right? Despite that, the Durham Regional Police Service approved an application from one its officers to become a co-owner of an unlicensed medical marijuana company with an as-yet-unopened storefront.

How could this happen? The police service says it received a legal opinion, which it is rather conveniently keeping secret, “that it would be required to approve” Const. Phil Edgar’s application.

It gets murkier. Under Ontario law, police officers must have permission to take a second job or have ownership in a company that may appear to be a conflict of interest or interfere with their police duties. In fact, in the past, Durham has denied requests from officers who wanted side jobs as bartenders or security guards.

But the Durham force still approved Edgar’s application, though a spokesman added that “the service would never knowingly approve a request for secondary employment that is illegal.”

Though Edgar now says he has stepped away from the company, the issue was to be discussed behind closed doors at a meeting of the Durham Police Services Board on Monday.

The board should step in and tell the force to take another look at this highly questionable situation. Even aside from the legality of what the company is doing, the fact that an officer who once received a commendation for numerous marijuana busts was given the green light to get involved with a company supplying pot must surely raise eyebrows.

At the very least, it does not inspire confidence in the Durham police service.