After seven months of study and debate, the Senate has passed the federal government’s bill to legalize recreational marijuana in a vote of 52-29, with two abstentions.

That means Canadians will be able to legally purchase and consume recreational marijuana by mid-September at the latest.

North Bay Police deputy chief Scott Tod says they have a good sense regarding the sale of pot but it’s still unclear what the impact on police resources will be.

But that’s not his only concern as they don’t have the equipment currently that officers will have to have to determine if people are over the legal limit.

“We don’t have that yet in a regulation. We don’t have all of the training yet in regards to dealing with cannabis and driving. What does look like? We’re still not sure in how the enforcement of that will be,” Tod says.

Tod says one concern is the impact on their budget as there will be more resources needed.

“Court security costs for people who are in violation of the legislation, incarceration costs, all the costs in dealing with prisoners and people on probation or parole who are reporting in and out of the police service,” he says.

Tod says there is one estimate from a police service that 2 per cent of their budget increase will be attributed to the legalization of cannabis.

(With files from The Canadian Press)

Filed under: marijuana-legislation, scott-tod