With the passage of the Cannabis Act by the federal government earlier this month, the planning is now underway as to how the laws will be enforced, and what will be needed of police forces across the country.

Here in Weyburn, the numbers have been looked at by the Weyburn Police Service. Their findings were presented to the Weyburn Police Commission earlier this month.

Police Chief Marlo Pritchard explained they are looking at an increase of roughly 1.5 percent in the budget for the police force.

“That was based on a research document that was done by other major police services, using analysts and comparing the experiences that have come out of the States, such as Colorado,” Pritchard said.

The numbers are just estimates at this point, Pritchard counselled. The increase in Weyburn, which would work out to roughly $45,000, doesn’t necessarily include all of the costs either, as there will be some one-time costs incurred by the Weyburn Police Service.

“That doesn’t take into account the hours that will be required for training, and we don’t know what the cost of equipment is. Because the equipment hasn’t been authorized by the federal government yet for our testing of impaired driving laws.”

There is hope the province will be assisting police forces with the training costs as the bill gets closer to rolling out.

Pritchard also took the moment to remind the residents of Weyburn the Cannabis Act takes effect on October 17th, which means it remains illegal until that date, with all the existing laws still enforced.