If you are smoking cannabis in a public place in the city of Markham, will a nearby York Regional Police officer enforce the recently passed municipal bylaw prohibiting such an act?

In a word: no.

That seems to go against the publicly stated intent of the bylaw passed by Markham city council at its special council meeting on Oct. 16, just a day before cannabis was legalized.

At that meeting, it was clearly stated enforcement prohibiting smoking cannabis in any public place in Markham would be enforced by the YRP.

After that Oct. 16 meeting, Mayor Frank Scarpitti, who was part of the majority 12-1 vote who supported banning the smoking of cannabis in all public places in Markham, said, “Where police encounter people smoking cannabis in public places, if they’re there, they can take action.”

But Const. Andy Pattenden, speaking on behalf of York Regional Police, said that even though the city of Markham stated publicly that York Regional Police would enforce “new municipal cannabis bylaws (banning smoking it in public places) … that is not the case. While York Regional Police is authorized to enforce bylaws, when taking into consideration the efficient deployment of resources, it cannot be a priority for us.”

An official response from the city to the position of YRP with respect to the bylaw suggests the city of Markham has a bit of a mixed message on the issue.

“We understand that YRP has the jurisdiction to enforce this bylaw and others. They also have a responsibility to prioritize the deployment of their resources. We hope to work with the police to ensure that our community is aware of the bylaw restrictions and complies.”

In truth, it would seem that the mayor understands where the police priorities are and believes the bylaw’s true power lies in how well the people of Markham know about the existence of the bylaw.

“Now there will be that moral suasion as people go about the community to adhere to the law,” he said the day it was passed.