The commander of the Sunshine Coast RCMP detachment says her officers will be “treading lightly and carefully” when it comes to enforcing the new federal and provincial laws around cannabis.
Staff Sgt. Poppy Hallam made the comments during her quarterly update for Gibsons council on Oct. 16.
“The RCMP is now ready for it,” Hallam told council.
Hallam said RCMP members are equipped with the forms to ticket people for the various offences outlined in the provincial Cannabis Control and Licensing Act, and she said it would be very similar to the enforcement work police are already doing under the Liquor Control and Licensing Act.
Hallam also said local RCMP, who are already concerned about the levels of alcohol impaired driving on the Coast, are also ready to deal with cases of impaired driving related to cannabis use. “We do have a drug recognition expert [at the detachment], so we are fortunate on the Coast to have a person who is trained in field sobriety tests and drug recognition to conduct full impaired driving [by drugs] investigations.”
Enforcement of the rules and regulations for cannabis retailers will be handled by a Community Safety Unit to be established by the province.
Solicitor General Mike Farnworth advised cannabis shop owners who don’t yet have a provincial licence to close their doors until they’re approved.
“My advice to them is that there are new rules coming in place … and they should start to abide by those rules,” Farnworth told reporters at the Legislature. He also said enforcement would ramp up gradually.
It was unclear as of Coast Reporter’s deadline how many of the stores on the Sunshine Coast would follow that advice.
While RCMP and the new provincial Community Safety Unit are ready to enforce the new rules, the federal government has announced it’s going to make it easier for people who ran afoul of the old cannabis laws to get a pardon.
Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale said the government will introduce legislation soon that will waive fees and speed up the pardon process in the case of convictions for simple possession.
NDP MP Murray Rankin of Victoria wants the government to go a step further and completely expunge the convictions.
Rankin introduced a private member’s bill on Oct. 4.
“Over 500,000 Cana-dians have a criminal record for cannabis possession,” Rankin said in the House of Commons. “That is 500,000 Canadians who may be barred from finding employment, from volunteering in their communities and from finding a place to rent, all for non-violent action that will soon be perfectly legal… This bill would allow people to wipe from their records all cannabis convictions for things that will be perfectly legal [Oct. 17].”
Speaking on Eastlink Community TV’s Parlia-mentary Talkback program Oct. 12, West Vancouver-Sunshine Coast-Sea to Sky Country MP Pam Goldsmith-Jones said she supports the idea.
“I myself, personally, would support that. I think it’s probably what the constituents in the community would support. It comes up all the time,” she said. “Should somebody end up with a criminal record? It’s ridiculous for just having a small amount of cannabis.”
Goldsmith-Jones also said she thinks the Liberal government has worked well with the provinces on laying the groundwork for the new regulations, especially the agreement to share 75 per cent of the tax revenue which she said is a “recognition of their responsibility when it comes to health and public safety.”
– With files from the Victoria Times Colonist
