COURTS SET THE TONE

It's no secret the new Conservative government is more prudish
regarding casual use of marijuana than its Liberal predecessor, but
don't expect Barrie cops to be on a stepped-up 'doobie' patrol anytime soon.

Despite news that police in the GTA are cracking down on tokers after
sniffing the prevailing winds from Ottawa, it will be "business as
usual" in Barrie, according to Police Chief Wayne Frechette.

What's usual for Barrie? Most possession charges result from
investigations of other crimes, from previous arrests or from
flagrant, public use of the drug. If you are walking down the street
on the "business end of a big doob," the chances of attracting the
attention of police are fairly high. But if you're strolling downtown
with a couple of joints in your pocket, intending to have a discreet
puff later, police are unlikely to swoop down to conduct a search of
your person. "How would we know? We have to have reasonable and
probable grounds (to conduct a search)," says Frechette.

Governments can "huff and puff" all they want about the pros and cons
of decriminalizing marijuana, but at the end of the day "it's what
the courts think" that determines how simple pot possession is
regarded. The courts have been lenient in recent years when it comes
to dealing with pot charges. It burns up a lot of police time to
follow possession charges through the court, only to see them reduced
or tossed out. And to be blunt, police have bigger concerns when it
comes to drugs in Barrie.

When I asked him to name the most troubling drug in this city, the
chief wasted no time offering a one-word reply: "Crack." As well as
the personal toll the drug takes on users, crack "breeds all sorts of
other crime."

The city's 'drug problem' is probably similar to that of any urban
centre the size of Barrie, says the chief. Crack addicts commit
crimes to support their habits. Pot use "is the lesser, by a long
shot, of a number of evils."

That's not to say casual use of marijuana is without its perils.
Frechette has two main concerns with pot: impaired driving and the
potency of the drug. Unlike impaired driving involving alcohol,
there's no means to test for impairment from marijuana use. And 30
years ago, if tokers were smoking Canadian pot, they probably
couldn't find or afford anything better. These days Canadian-produced
pot is among the most potent to be found anywhere. In other words,
the pot being consumed today has significant 'brain-bleed' qualities.
Doctors also warn pot can be as hazardous to one's health as cigarettes.

Police "are more concerned with grow-ops," says Frechette. Producing
pot is big business, with Canadian 'bud' a significant export to the
States. But it's not all munchies and giggles. "There is a fairly
brisk trade of marijuana southbound and cocaine northbound." And
grow-ops come with their own unique set of safety issues:
booby-traps, mold and illegal electricity hook-ups among them.

Because of the court's approach to simple possession, a type of
decriminalizing has already occurred, the chief says. And there
doesn't appear to be any 'reefer madness' sweeping the nation that
will reverse this trend, regardless of what governments do. Many of
today's parents smoked pot when they were kids, and no doubt some
still do, so there seems to be a general societal acceptance of
casual pot use. Can the day when it's available for sale with other
government-regulated stimulants (liquor and beer) be that far away?