Windsor Police Chief Al Frederick said he’s against the federal Liberal party’s plans to legalize cannabis, saying it will be a public safety issue with users driving impaired.
“It’s not like alcohol where we have the mechanism to test for that but we don’t for marijuana which is going to create a public safety issue,” said Frederick, who would prefer users to pay a fine for cannabis instead of legalization.
Frederick is a member of the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police a group which, this summer voted in favour of making cannabis possession of 30 g or less a ticketable offence.
“We don’t support legalization or decriminalization,” said the group’s drug-abuse committee chair, police Chief Mark Mander.
“Clearly there are circumstances where a formal charge for simple possession is appropriate,” said Mander. “However, the large majority of simple possession cases would be more effectively, efficiently dealt with [by issuing a ticket].”
Justin Trudeau’s Liberals promised during the election campaign to legalize recreational cannabis in the country.