Pubdate: Tue, 28 Apr 2015
Source: Toronto Sun (CN ON)
Copyright: 2015 Canoe Limited Partnership
Contact: http://www.torontosun.com/letter-to-editor
Website: http://torontosun.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/457
Author: Joe Warmington
Page: 8

BLAIR NOW AT ODDS WITH OLD BRETHREN

Bill Blair may now be in favour of legalizing marijuana but the 
national chief's organization he often boasts having led is certainly not.

"Our position has not changed," Canadian Association of Chiefs of 
Police (CACP) spokesman Tim Smith said Monday.

No longer Toronto's chief of police, and now a federal Liberal 
nomination hopeful, Blair's position is clearly different than his 
chief of police brethren.

"I have seen merely criminalizing marijuana hasn't been successful in 
keeping it out of the hands of kids, it hasn't kept organized crime 
out of the business," he told the CBC in Ottawa where he later shared 
the stage with Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau. "I think we can do 
better, through legalization and regulation, coupled with a strong 
public health response."

But in 2013 at the CACP's 108th conference in Winnipeg, which Blair 
attended, the chiefs adopted a resolution stating "the CACP does not 
support the decriminalization or legalization of cannabis or any 
other illicit substance" and "the illicit use of cannabis has a 
negative impact on public safety and the health of young persons." 
They also said "cannabis is a drug that impairs cognitive function 
(and) can cause delusional thoughts or hallucinations."

While chief of police in Toronto, Blair's position on the 
legalization of pot was not publicly known. As a possible political 
candidate, Blair's position undoubtedly sent a shock around the 
country's policing community.

What he said will either be a great help in Trudeau's quest to become 
prime minister and to change the country's rules on marijuana, or be 
the hot button that will keep Prime Minister Stephen Harper at 24 Sussex.

Either way, April 27 could go down as an important day in the 
discussion of marijuana.

Certainly this was the day Blair said if Canada does "regulate 
marijuana" it could mean "the decision whether or not to sell to a 
young person isn't going to be made by some gangsters in a stairwell, 
it will be made by a government employee based on strong regulations 
that have been well articulated and we will be able to do a much 
better job of keeping drugs out of the hands of young people." Yet 
exactly one week ago to the day, then chief Blair had his officers 
readying to take part in a major drug bust that would nab 36 people, 
many of whom were charged with the possession of illegal drugs 
including marijuana.

Then seven days later Blair tells the country he actually favours the 
legalization of the very drug his officers knocked down doors to take 
off the street.

The first person I contacted about the former chief's epiphany was 
the Toronto's new chief Mark Saunders. Saunders, who will be formerly 
sworn in in late May, has yet to respond but it will be interesting 
to get his take.

When asked, CACP spokesman Tim Smith said, "We will not get into the 
politics of such a discussion."

However, CACP states there is "growing evidence cannabis can have a 
negative impact on the development of the brain in young persons and 
some form of mental illness among young adults have been attributed 
to frequent cannabis use."
- ---
MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom