Part one of two
RCMP are still making pot arrests, in Prince George, in 2017, less than a year before marijuana becomes legal in Canada.
It'd be funny if it wasn't so silly.
Police are so backward on pot that their press releases still spell it as "marihuana," which is how it's spelled in the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act, the basis for the latest local charges.
Maybe they should pronounce it the way they spell it? Now that might be funny.
But in fairness to the loco PoPo, this is not a fight of their choosing.
No doubt, they'd rather be catching real criminals, like the gang members running deadly opioids into the hands and veins of desperate addicts, rather than rounding up potheads. Even pulling over speeding drivers makes more sense.
As anyone first on the scene of a horrific accident knows, speeding kills. So does fentanyl and crystal meth and the people willing to produce and sell it.
Pot, on the other hand, just makes people mellow and snacky. It inspires music and movies and art. It also helps some people manage their anxiety, their multiple sclerosis, their PTSD and their Parkinson's disease. For many fighting cancer and going through chemo and radiation treatment, the only way they can keep their meals down and sleep more than an hour at a time is if they are high on the ganja first.
In many other B.C. municipalities, the RCMP and local police forces have, to varying degrees, turned a blind eye to retail outlets selling pot and accessories, so long as the sales are in low quantities for personal use, kept away from the kids and specifically targeted for those legally allowed to consume medical marijuana. In downtown Nanaimo, for example, there are two pot dispensaries, along with a medical pot production facility within city limits.
Both of the retail outlets in Nanaimo are listed as members of the Wee Medical Society, which lists 10 locations in B.C., including the Third Avenue location in Prince George that got busted again Friday.
Two men were arrested and police said they seized a "considerable amount" of marijuana, cannibus-infused food, cash, packaging material and accessories.
Marijuana is still illegal, of course, but enforcement comes down to a choice, both by police and by the municipalities they serve.
Just because there is a law on the books doesn't mean it's followed to the letter or even at all.
There is no better example of that than City of Prince George and Regional District of Fraser Fort George bylaws. Enforcement for most of those bylaws are complaint driven, meaning that unless someone calls, a bylaw officer won't look into the matter. As a result, driveways across the city (full disclosure: including my own) have a trailer, a boat and/or an RV parked in them all year round, in open defiance of the city bylaw.
And even if a bylaw officer, in response to a complaint, stops to chat up a resident about their trailer or watering their lawn on the wrong day or anything else, a ticket is only written for the worst offenders.
Prince George RCMP does the same on local roads and highways when it comes to speeding. The sign on the Hart Highway says 70 from Northwood Pulp Mill Road to past North Kelly Road but any driver doing less than 85 and not driving in the right lane will receive a warm South Mackenzie salute in short order. For those unfamiliar with the South Mackenzie salute, it's just like the peace sign, except the hand is turned to face the other way and the index finger is kept down.
Officers will set up a speed trap from time to time but rarely ticket anyone going less than 90. In other words, they target the worst offenders - the folks doing 100 or more. And when it comes to the Hart Highway, they never have to wait for long.
Perhaps Prince George RCMP consider the Wee Medical duo they arrested last Friday to be among the worst offenders. Maybe they were selling to kids. Perhaps the police received complaints from residents or neighbouring businesses. Or possibly the two men are affiliated with area gangs.
Or maybe none of it is true.
We'll find out when the two appear before a judge on Oct. 11.
In the meantime, Prince George RCMP were urging local homeowners Monday to close up their doors and windows when they're not home, even in the heat, because of a recent spike in residential break-ins.
This is where the brave men and women in uniform need to focus their attention, not on some doobie brothers with baggies of grass and vacuum-sealed cannabis cookies.
The Mounties also need some direction from the City of Prince George, which must hurry up and update its local policies on the production and selling of marijuana to match its impending legalization next summer.
Those rules, unlike many of their other municipal bylaws, are the ones that need to be rigidly enforced, not with old-school arrests and property seizures that never worked to begin with, but with the goal of allowing adults to legally buy and consume a product they already regularly use in a way that keeps the proceeds away from organized crime and the drug out of the hands of kids.
Getting to that point starts with putting an end to the moralizing around pot but where does that moralizing come from, anyway? That's tomorrow.
-- Editor-in-chief Neil Godbout
