'LIVES AT RISK'

Pot warning: Top cop

Ontario should brace itself for a long, hot and violent summer of legal pot
smoking, Ontario police chiefs warn. "Lives are being put at risk," Ontario
Association of Police Chiefs president Tom Kaye said after the annual
meeting of top cops in Richmond Hill.

An Ontario Superior Court of Justice decision that effectively
decriminalized pot possession laws and the refusal of Ontario courts to
hear possession charges is "disturbing," said Kaye, police chief in Owen Sound.

"It leaves police no legislative authority to fulfil their duty to serve
and protect communities," he said.

Kaye said police have no power to stop a motorist smoking a joint, nor can
they stop a 12-year-old kid from toking up in elementary school. Noting
that impaired drivers claim the lives of hundreds of innocent victims
annually, Kaye said there is "no satisfactory" tool to identify
marijuana-impaired drivers. Unless the driver shows "classic signs of
impaired driving," then officers cannot demand blood without first
obtaining a search warrant, which would take a greater amount of time and
effort.

Kaye slammed the federal government for taking its summer break while the
provinces are in chaos over weed laws. He said once pot smokers realize the
risk of arrest is almost nil, use will become commonplace, and organized
crime will meet the increased demand for marijuana.

Hydroponic homegrow labs are already an "epidemic" in Ontario, Kaye said,
adding that government also needs to give police more cash to shut them down.

In an "open letter" to Ontarians, the chiefs urged citizens to press Prime
Minister Jean Chretien and Premier Ernie Eves for a "speedy resolution to
this critical public safety issue."