'Frustrated' Windsor police chief wants his officers to avoid cannabis altogether

If you ask Windsor police chief Al Frederick how concerned he is amid the fast-approaching legalization of recreational marijuana use, he'll give you a blunt answer.

"A lot."

With those concerns comes frustration about the federal government's "lack of direction" in terms of policing procedures, the absence of an "objective" test to identify impaired drivers and an expectation of his officers to avoid cannabis use altogether.

Unclear regulations causing frustration

Growing marijuana at home will be legal for many Canadians this fall, as the federal government has imposed a four-plant limit on households. Frederick said that's something which will be difficult to enforce.

"There's all kinds of challenges with entering someone's home to search, to seize, to make an arrest," said Frederick. "I don't foresee that as being enforceable in any, real practical terms."

In terms of whether or not police would need to obtain search warrant if a person was found to be growing more than four plants, Frederick said that's vague because the federal government has been unclear in terms of what they're allowed to do.

"The federal government has been very slow to respond to the law enforcement community in regards to the prescriptive process by which a lot of the enforcement activities are supposed to be occurring under," he said.

"We're very frustrated by the lack of direction in the regulatory frameworks."

Cannabis not part of a healthy lifestyle, says chief

"Marijuana is a drug, it's addictive, it's harmful to you and I expect our officers to avoid it."

Police services across the country have implemented a variety of policies in terms of when officers can consume cannabis off-duty — just so long as they're sober on the job.

In Toronto, police officers cannot use recreational marijuana within 28 days of reporting for duty. However, officers in the Calgary Police Service will be banned from consuming marijuana even on their days off or vacations.

As for the Windsor Police Service, the policy is still a work in progress. Frederick said it will be revealed before legalization and will be "very conservative" and "very restrictive."

"Fit-for-duty is a big piece of it, but I'm going to have a time period by which they have to completely abstain before they start work," said Frederick, adding that time period is undetermined pending a further review of data.

He described marijuana as an addictive narcotic which is not part of a healthy lifestyle.

"I'm encouraging our officers to avoid the consumption of marijuana ... Even for our community, I don't encourage it," said Frederick.

"Our officers live up to the values of the Windsor Police Service each and every day. I don't expect that to change. Our values don't support the ingestion of marijuana."

Watch the full conversation with Windsor police chief Al Frederick on the CBC's Windsor Morning:

No 'objective' test for impaired drivers

Frederick said while some communities ignore cannabis consumption because of its looming legalization, he's taking a different approach.

"We have a responsibility not to be impaired by drug when we're driving. We have a responsibility to be leaders to our children and to our neighbours, so I do not condone [cannabis use] whatsoever."

In late August, Canadian justice minister Jody Wilson-Raybould approved the Drager DrugTest 5000 as the first saliva screening equipment to be used by law enforcement to test for THC, the main psychoactive agent in cannabis.

Frederick said that device will not be used by Windsor police because it's a "subjective" test.

"That's why having a hard and fast date of October 17 was a little irresponsible when police do not have tools in their quiver to deal with it," said Frederick.

He added Windsor police have hired experts who help prosecute drug-impaired drivers.