According to the Chatham-Kent police chief, his department is as prepared as can be for the legalization of marijuana and doesn't see the Earth coming to a "screeching halt."
Cannabis was officially legalized Wednesday.
Chatham-Kent police chief Gary Conn compared it to the Y2K scare.
"There is going to be a learning curve and it will be a work in progress," Conn said. "I want to work with our association and with our members and with our community to ensure that we remain safe at all times."
Conn said his staff has gone through significant training getting ready for pot legalization. He added the detachment has increased the amount of standard field sobriety testers on the road from eight to 24. As of right now, there are two drug recognition experts working for the CK police and they are looking at doubling that number.
The police chief understands concerns that the rules seem to be toeing a fine line between Liquor License Act and the Smoke-Free Ontario Act. Just because someone can smoke marijuana anywhere they can smoke cigarettes, the fact remains marijuana is an intoxicant and much like drinking, it doesn't mean you can get as high as you want wherever you want.
"If a person is impaired or in an intoxicated state, there is an offence for that," Conn said. "Our concern is for your safety. When we arrest someone, we arrest them because they cannot take care of themselves. God forbid they walk out onto the street and get hit by a vehicle. A lot of people think we arrest people just because they are intoxicated. We arrest people because they can't take care of themselves and we're concerned for their safety."
Conn said anyone found too intoxicated off marijuana will be treated like anyone else found in an extremely inebriated state.
"We'll arrest them and bring them to the cells to give them time to sober up and then release them with a provincial offence ticket," Conn said.
The police chief added that doesn't mean anyone smoking pot in public will be deemed too intoxicated and arrested automatically. He said someone has to be a danger to themselves, others, or causing some sort of public disturbance.
According to Conn he would love to have had more time to prepare, but understands everything needs a deadline. He said the detachment is getting a bit of relief though as consumable marijuana is only available online right now.
Cannabis won't be available in Chatham-Kent stores until next April and that will give Conn and his crew some time to figure things out.
