Bill Blair pot smoke signals

The Liberals' move to hand the sticky marijuana legalization file to Toronto's former police chief has sparked a lot of.

Ben Spurr

The Liberals’ move to hand the sticky marijuana legalization file to Toronto’s former police chief has sparked a lot of criticism and justifiably so.

After all, under Bill Blair’s watch the Toronto Police Service pursued a zero tolerance policy when it came to pot. Whether or not that was a holdover from the hardcore Julian Fantino era that preceded Blair’s tenure is a bit hazy. At least, Blair’s publicly-stated views on pot have historically been more small-l liberal than arrest numbers under his watch would indicate.

During the election campaign, for example, Blair was front-and-centre on the issue taking on the HarperCons’ mandatory minimum sentencing push, which included some pot-related offenses.

It would seem out of step for the new Liberal government to go back on what was Justin Trudeau’s first promise on the campaign trail in his home province of B.C., the bud capital of Canada no less.

Here are five reasons why the Liberals newly minted pot czar, may be just the guy to sell legal weed.

1. Blair’s bud bonafides provide the perfect political cover. As has been mentioned, Blair oversaw a force that waged a war on pot, so no one can accuse him of being soft on drugs. But he’s seemed to have evolved on the issue. For example, when CAMH called for legal cannabis in 2014, Blair said he was “very encouraged by [CAMH’s] public health approach” to the issue. He described it as “evidenced-based” which is an indication he sees marijuana use more as a health than a criminal justice issue. That’s a good start.

2. Blair’s buds at the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police (CACP) have bigger fish to fry. Much has been made in the wake of Blair’s appointment of the fact his friends at the CACP favour decriminalization of pot, but not legalization. Lost in that argument is the fact the group sees prescription drug use among young people as a bigger problem. According to the CACP, more kids are getting high on whats in their parents medicine cabinets than dime bags bought on the street corner. We have a full-blown crisis, in fact, with the rate of opioid use in Canada quadrupling over the last decade. During that time, prescription opioid-related deaths have doubled in Ontario. Last we checked, no one has ever died from smoking reefer.

3. Prohibition doesnt make dollars and sense. Blair knows better than more the financial burden simple possession arrests are putting on the justice system. Hundreds of millions of dollars are being wasted every year. The irony is that crime in all other categories has been steadily declining while pot possession charges across the country have been increasing, which should tell us something about where police resources are going. In the face of ever-ballooning police budgets and scarcer resources, that approach is just not cutting it anymore. Besides, the Liberals will need revenue from legal weed to pay for some of their campaign promises. That’s a bottom line that’s hard to ignore in any evaluation of whether the fix is in with Blair’s appointment.

4. Regulating marijuana will actually make it harder for young people to get weed. Lest we be under any illusions, and some have been when it comes to the Liberals’ legalization plans, but the idea is not to turn Canuckistan into pothead heaven. Legalization as envisioned by the Liberals will come with strict regulation. Trudeau has been very clear about that. In fact, the Liberal plan calls for stiffer penalties for selling weed to minors and driving under its influence. And during the campaign, he tossed a pro-pot Liberal candidate who ventured that smoking weed can make you a better parent.

5. Kathleen Wynne is all for it. She says legal weed could be sold out of liquor stores, an idea later supported by Blair. Can there be a stronger signal that the die has been cast on legal weed than the blessing of the premier of Canadas most populous province, who also happens to be a Trudeau confidante? Forget about Canada running afoul of international laws against possession and production of marijuana, an issue that has been raised in a memo to the PM mysteriously leaked just prior to Blair’s appointment. Even the war-on-drugs obsessed U.S. is rethinking its policies with more States considering legalization, especially after Colorado’s highly successful experiment. More importantly, countries in Latin American most affected by the violence that comes with narco trafficking are legalizing weed, making this an opportune time to reconsider international treaties prohibiting weed. Puff on that.

enzom@nowtoronto.com | @enzodimatteo