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Why are we still arresting people for having small amounts of cannabis, when it will not be a crime much longer?

The issue is complicated further by comments made earlier this year by Liberal MP Bill Blair. Blair is the former chief of police for the city of Toronto and is now the prime minister’s point man on marijuana-related issues. Last month, Blair said that the Liberal government would consider amnesties for Canadians convicted of minor marijuana-related crimes (the criminal record such convictions produces can prove devastating to one’s career prospects, and complicate any plans for international travel). Amnesties for those convicted of minor marijuana-related offences is a fine idea, but consider the absurd message these overlapping promises and commitments have produced: the government is basically saying you can be arrested and convicted for something that will soon no longer be illegal, but don’t worry, because you’ll be granted amnesty for it later.

The wheels of government move slowly. This government has had more important issues to grapple with. Progress on marijuana legalization will take time, and as already shown by the experience of Washington and Colorado, will likely take even more time than expected. Tackling all the various complexities of ending our decades-long prohibition of marijuana should not be rushed.

But in the meantime, something should be done about those cases still being brought into the court system. Since we don’t know what the future law will be — will possession of quantities of marijuana beyond a certain limit still be banned, on grounds it’s intended for trafficking? — it’s impossible for police and Crown attorneys to simply stop pursing convictions for crimes that will soon be erased. They don’t know where the line will be drawn. Any guidance the government can provide to law enforcement and Crown attorneys across the country, on the understanding that officers may decline to arrest and prosecutors may decline to prosecute on the basis of that information, would constitute an imperfect way of addressing the absurdities now being created by a Liberal promise that has not yet become law.

National Post

mgurney@nationalpost.com

Twitter.com/MattGurney

Matt Gurney is editor of, and a columnist for, the National Post Comment section. He hosts National Post Radio every weekday morning from six to nine Eastern on SiriusXM’s Canada Talks, channel 167.