Province fears for public safety once pot is legal

Justice minister says system needed to check for impaired drivers, workers

Justice Minister Gord Wyant says he supports decriminalization of marijuana, but says public safety needs to be protected, too.

Wyant says it is a “real concern” for the Saskatchewan government about traffic safety because there’s no way to monitor people who are driving on the roads while impaired by marijuana.

The minister says breathalyzers can detect alcohol, but there is no such equipment for marijuana, and the cost of special training for police officers in drug detection is very expensive.

“We have a concern about that. We need to be able to make sure our roads are safe,” Wyant said on Wednesday. “We need some ways of detecting this.”

He says there are also concerns about workplace safety if people are operating heavy machinery while impaired by marijuana.

“We need to make sure that our workplaces are safe,” Wyant said.

The federal Liberal government wants to decriminalize marijuana consumption and incidental possession and create new sanctions to more severely punish those who provide pot to minors or drive under its influence.

“There’s going to be some significant impact, I think, for all the provinces,” Wyant said.

Ontario Attorney General Yasir Naqvi says legalizing marijuana is already proving to be a “tremendous” undertaking for the provinces and territories — and it’s only going to get worse come Thursday.

That’s when the federal government is introducing its long-awaited legislation to legalize pot across Canada, a seismic policy shift that has provincial, territorial and municipal governments looking for something to hold on to.

Naqvi says Ontario has been collaborating with other jurisdictions to share information ahead of the federal legislation being tabled.

He says much work involving multiple ministries has been done in preparation for the changing landscape, the details of which are expected in the forthcoming Liberal legislation.

Naqvi expects to see a fairly detailed bill — one that’s going to take time to unpack, particularly when it comes to the effect on provincial governments, where issues like distribution and enforcement are front and centre.

The Prairie provinces have said they want Ottawa to cover the additional law enforcement costs that are likely to come with legalized pot.

B.C. Premier Christy Clark says her fear is that legalization will send the message that the drug is “harm free,” despite the fact it remains a dangerous substance — especially in the hands of kids.