A proactive approach to the legalization of cannabis

 

By Tamas Miko

Windsor Police are taking a proactive approach to the legalization of cannabis and to the risks it could bring to the community.

With the legalization of marijuana, Windsor Police will use a three step approach, said Police Chief Al Frederick. According to Frederick it will be a game changer for the police and the community. However, officers have been taking training to deal with any potential problems. Impaired drug driving is one of the problems, according to Frederick.

“The first problem is the impaired by drug. Second problem is enforcement,” said Frederick.

Frederick said Windsor Police are focused on three different areas in the training. The first focus of training is impaired by drug. Officers have taken extensive training and a new unit called DRE, which stands for Drug Recognition Experts, has been formed. Officers will have to make a subjective observation to be able to determine the charge when it comes to stopping someone suspected of being impaired when driving.

The second focus of training is enforcement. According to Frederick, officers need to know the basics first before they can lay any charges. Also, enforcing the law might be difficult since people will be allowed to consume cannabis in public.

”You will be allowed to do that. So the enforcement piece is not going to be that significant because it seems there is not much to enforce,” said Frederick.

The third focus is internal policy. Frederick said they look at the internal policy related to employees of Windsor Police and the consumption of cannabis. Frederick said a large committee has been working in those three areas to be ready for the legalization of cannabis on Oct. 17. Nevertheless, Frederick said he does not support the idea of using cannabis in public.

Nikita Kambcuris, an employee at Higher Limits, has a different perspective when it comes to legalization of cannabis. He said it could be a huge need for supply to meet demands, during the first year of legal cannabis use, depending on how the market goes. Kambcuris also said people will be able to buy cannabis from online stores as well when it becomes legal. Nevertheless, people will also buy it in other ways regardless of the legalization, according to Kambcuris.

“I am pretty sure most people are like already have illegal ways of getting the cannabis so it might not be a problem for most people,” said Kambcuris.

Regulating cannabis is necessary in order to prevent under aged youth having access to it said Kambcuris. He said selling recreational cannabis could be taxable and the money could be used for something else. Kambcuris said it might be beneficial to the community if cannabis is regulated in a way which is safe for everyone.

“Also the money that you can make is obviously going to be insane,

if you just look at Colorado alone the money that they make from taxes,” said Kambcuris.

Kumbcruis said the legalization of cannabis would theoretically increase their business. He also said the black market for cannabis might go down a little. However, nothing is certain. Kumbcruis said if the government cannot compete with the black market’s price there is a chance it might become stronger than before.