As the Liberal government crafts plans on how to act on its marijuana legalization promise, old fissures between conservatives over the harms of marijuana bubbled up Friday, raising the question of whether policy debate within the conservative movement is keeping pace with the country on the issue.

At a panel event at the Manning Centre conference in Ottawa called Conservatives on Cannabis (no, they were not actually on cannabis – and made it clear there would be no samples), panelists brought forward conflicting views and evidence. Divisions appeared in the audience as well between grassroots social conservatives, Red Tories and libertarians – and between some younger and older conservatives.

The moderator, Matt Bufton, executive director of the Institute for Liberal Studies, suggested the panel should “not be debating whether or not we should be legalizing marijuana, but some perspectives going forward on the assumption that the government will keep its promise.”

Earlier in the week, Liberal MP Bill Blair, the former Toronto top cop tapped to lead the charge on legalization, was hazy on a potential timeline for legislation, but said the government is committed to moving forward on the file.

Dr. Dean Vause, executive director of the Alberta Adolescent Recovery Centre, who hails from Stephen Harper’s riding, said the former Prime Minister “had it right” on pot.

“We should be alarmed,” he said, of the plan to legalize pot. “It’s ugly. It’s horrific. This is not a benign drug.”

He said young lives “have been shattered” from smoking marijauna and fired off a few pot-shots at Trudeau for his admitted familiarity with the substance.

Vause told the audience that three people had overdosed in Colorado on marijuana and that it was a drug that ruins lives. In stark contrast, Karen O’Keefe, of the Marijuana Policy Project, a major marijuana policy reform organization in the U.S., said that alcohol was more toxic than marijuana and it is not possible to consume enough pot to overdose from it.

She raised concerns about a lag in intoxication when it comes to consuming the substance through edibles, and offered some evaluation of policies tried in the U.S. that put zoning “buffers” around schools to prevent marijuana shops setting up to close to them.

Dr. Daniel Lindsay, meanwhile, former president of the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Manitoba, said there is very little evidence so far to point to because the product has been illegal for so long. He urged, though, that conservatives need to push back against the assumption many young Canadians have that it’s a “low risk” drug, and emphasized a need for public education.

Some audience members took to the mics to express confusion and frustration with the differing points on evidence and that the debate hasn’t caught up to where the puck is going.

One young audience member from McGill University expressed concern that the debate seemingly hasn’t moved on yet and said that many of his friends at the Manning Centre conference had also smoked pot.

He said “when we become leadership of this party,” they will favour legalization. He then called for smarter dialogue on the issue instead of a knee-jerk reaction to the Liberals’ stance.

That was met with some applause, while behind him in line, another audience member shouted “speak for yourself!”