The Ontario Provincial Police say federal funding may be insufficient to deal with the effects of incoming marijuana legalization.

“It is unclear how legalization will impact police from a day-to-day operational perspective, including how it will impact, of course, police budgets ” said Chuck Cox, chief superintendent of the OPP, at a press conference for the Ontario Association of Chiefs of Police in Toronto on Tuesday.

“Police leaders in Ontario remain concerned that the federal funding for police to deal with the anticipating impacts of legalized cannabis may not be adequate to deal with police training, procurement, and their operational needs moving forward.”

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In September 2017, the federal government announced $274 million toward border efforts and policing marijuana-related incidents, including impaired driving, an investment that has started to flow, said MP Bill Blair, who’s leading the Liberal government’s charge toward legalization.

Blair said there’s $113 million allocated for the RCMP and the Canada Border Services Agency; leftover is about $161 million, which is earmarked for training and equipment.

Of the $161 million, $81 million has been allocated for municipal and Indigenous police services, Blair said.

“(This figure) was based on the calculation of a number of officers that they said needed training,” he said. “I believe it’s the right amount.”

About 730 officers have been trained so far across the country, Blair said, noting imminent increases to that number.

On Tuesday, Ontario police leaders unveiled its annual “Drive Safe!” campaign, which underscores the need for drivers to remain in control while behind the wheel — which, they say, means staying sober.

But the association made clear there was a sense of uncertainty about how the drug’s legalization will play out for law enforcement.

“I’m proud to say that Ontario is among the safest in traffic safety in North America, but sadly already this year 101 lives have been lost on OPP-patrolled highways through motor vehicle collisions, many of which, of course, are 100 per cent preventable,” Cox told the crowd, adding police anticipate drug-impaired driving to increase with legalization.

Intoxicated driving, Cox continued, is nothing new to police.

“We already have officers trained as drug recognition evaluators and trained to perform standardized field sobriety tests at roadside,” he said.

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But whether police services will be adequately funded during the change seems to be a sticking point.

Cox said police agencies have pre-emptively assessed the potential impacts of legalization, saying it would affect “(about) two per cent of their police services overall budget.”

“We can’t really predict what’s going to happen,” Cox told the Star.

“We don’t think that that money, when it finally rolls out to police agencies across the province, is going to be sufficient enough to cover off those costs,” he said, adding municipalities would bear the brunt.

He said more calls to police mean more money, he continued, as would hiring on drug recognition evaluators.

Toronto Police Service Supt. Scott Baptist, also at the event, told the Star that driving high is problem in the city right now. In 2017, he said 69 people were charged with operating a vehicle while under the influence of marijuana, some of which resulted in accidents. Baptist could not provide a number of collisions.

Asked whether TPS will be primed for the legalization, Baptist said “I know we’ll be ready.”

In the same breath, however, Baptist said there’s uncertainty surrounding what exactly will happen.

“This is a big change in our culture, a big change in the social use of this drug, and it’s something we’re going to have to see how it translates,” he said.

“We can’t keep people away from marijuana, but what we can do is we will continue to work with a broad range of social agencies and different partners to educate and inform,” Baptist said. “Hopefully we can make sure that society works collaboratively so that people make informed choices so that we are all safe.”