Pubdate: Sat, 09 Jan 2016
Source: Toronto Star (CN ON)
Copyright: 2016 The Toronto Star
Contact:  http://www.thestar.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/456
Author: Tonda MacCharles
Page: A1

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, cafes 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 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 recommendation 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

- -----------------------------------------------------------

[sidebar]

Q & A Bill Blair

EX-CHIEF NEVER SMOKED

But he bought pot while undercover

Have you ever smoked pot?

No and, interestingly enough, I worked on the drug squad in Toronto 
for years. I worked undercover, I've purchased a lot of marijuana but 
I've never used it.

And why is that?

I've never used any illegal drug. A personal choice. Growing up my 
dad was a cop and I didn't want to disrespect my father as a young 
teenager and then when I became a police officer myself I worked in 
that area but never felt inclined to use any illegal drug.

Not even curious to know as a cop why people would be drawn to it?

Nope. It was my job. I worked in that community, in the culture for 
years. I actually worked in organized drug crime as well for about 
four years, manned the organized drug crime units in Toronto. I've 
dealt with that as a police officer for a long time, but I've never 
used it. ... One of the first times I had to buy drugs as an 
undercover officer, I had to buy hash oil. It was in an apartment. 
Somebody brought out a wine bottle with a hole in the bottom of it 
and offered it to me (to smoke hash oil), and I didn't have a clue 
what to do with it.

What did you do?

You talk fast. You buy the drugs. And you get out fast.

How do you think that frames your thinking about the legalization issue?

I was a police officer for 38 and a half years, but I was also 
responsible as a police chief for the safety of communities and the 
safety of kids in the city. . . . I came to believe there was a 
better way. Simply dealing with marijuana with a criminal sanction 
and a criminal sanction alone wasn't achieving what we wanted to do. 
It wasn't keeping it out of the hands of kids; it wasn't preventing 
organized crime from controlling its distribution and sale in our 
neighbourhoods; it wasn't reducing the violence and victimization 
that takes place in poor neighbourhoods; it didn't address the 
disparity of the impact of that law enforcement that takes place in 
minority communities much more than in majority communities.

Do you think the public's ready?

I don't think we have much prospect of succeeding in trying to 
address the things that concern us about marijuana, particularly use 
by youth . . .with the current reliance on the criminal sanction. I 
am actually quite confident that we can do a much better job through 
strict regulation.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom