More info needed on plans to legalize pot: Charlottetown police chief

The Charlottetown police chief says he shares someof the mayor's concerns over alack of information on the federal government's plan to legalize marijuana and how that will affect law enforcement agencies.

• 'It's not our legislation': Charlottetown mayor says feds should help pay for pot enforcement

Charlottetown police Chief Paul Smith is preparinga report for city council that outlines his concerns. At the top of the list iscost: between the possibility for moreforensic testsand specialized officer training, the potential for increased budget pressure is significant.

Smith said it currently costs about $15,000 to have a single officer trained as a Drug Recognition Expert,a specialist who can determine if a person is under the influence of drugsbut Smith said it may not be necessary to have everyone trained to that level.

'An impact on resource'

"You have to be able to have people trained that can utilize the training and skills that they get but also have...on an ongoing basis," he said. "So you don't necessarily have to have everybody trained in that."

Smith saysit's hard to start planning before knowing how screening for being under the influence of marijuanawill be done, or what the legal limits for driving will be. He also worries how much pressure potentially many more tests will put on the forensic system.

"Is there going to be funding capacity within the federal government within the forensic labs?" he said.

"The additional work with blood testing, waiting on results, things like that. That is going to add time to impaired driving files so that in turn has an impact on resources."

How will it be sold?

The other big component that remains to bedecided, in this case by the province, is howthe legal pot will be sold on P.E.I.: eitherunder the control of an agency like the Liquor Commission or in dispensaries.

"If it's sold through the umbrella of the liquor commission then that's not a lot for us to have to worry about or deal with," Smith said.

"There's a regime that people are familiar with...versusthe potential problems you could have with dispensaries, in terms of again, illicit sales going out the back door."

Smith saidthere needs to be proper checks and balances in place to ensure illegal groups won't be able to get a licence to grow the plants.

• P.E.I. working with Atlantic provinces for consistent approach on marijuana rules
• 'It has to be safe': P.E.I. officials working through federal recommendations to legalizing marijuana

Smith said he's still working on the report he's preparing for Charlottetown city council and didn't have a date in mind for a presentation.

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