Indopedia All Things Marijuana
Tuesday, Sep. 12 marked the second day of hearings for the House of Commons Health Committee on Bill C-45, the legislation which will eventually legalize adult-use cannabis in Canada. During the proceedings, testimony from Canada’s police voiced significant concerns from the law enforcement community.
Senior police officials testified that the cops will not be ready for the July 2018 legalization deadline and have requested more time.
“If legislation is ready to go July 2018, policing will not be ready to go August 1st. It’s impossible,” said Deputy Commissioner of the Ontario Provincial Police, Rick Barnum. “This is a great step, but we’ve got to do it right and do it slowly and properly.”
Under the proposed legislation, police will have new directives in the areas of impaired driving and cannabis trafficking enforcement, as well as other enforcement responsibilities.
The outcry from police was joined by comments from Kevin Sabet, the president of US-based prohibitionist group Smart Approaches to Marijuana (SAM). “The only people that benefit from speed in this issue are the business people that are really waiting to get rich. There is no benefit to…
