A monumental shift in cultural thinking. It is one way many have described the legalization of cannabis in Canada, and it is a point of view many can agree with. Weyburn Police Chief Marlo Pritchard is one of those who feels the change is more than just a legislative one.

“We really are changing our thinking patterns, in all fairness, because since I started policing, cannabis, marijuana has been illegal, and we go and enforce the laws for public safety,” Pritchard said when sitting down with Discover Weyburn’s Glenn Rogers. “As of Wednesday, it was legal.”

The legalization happened across the country, and there are still a number of questions as to the rollout of the changes. For example, while it is legal to buy cannabis from a licensed retailer, there are very few in Saskatchewan. There are questions about how it can be transported, and where it can be consumed.

The laws concerning cannabis are also providing a shift in terms of how people think of impaired driving. For years, the concern was always how alcohol consumption leads to impaired driving. Now, cannabis is part of the conversation, even though it had always been a contributing factor to some instances of impaired driving before legalization.

“We kind of have to shift our mindsets, and so it’s going to be a learning process not only for the Weyburn Police Service but for everyone in Canada,” Pritchard explained. “Over time, we will adjust and be able to deal with the different mindset, I guess.”

The legalization was months in the making, with the final various legislative hurdles being cleared earlier this year. The process was reinforced with a few key goals from the federal government. One of those was to keep cannabis out of the hands of minors. The other was to impact the money being made by organized crime on the black market trade of cannabis.

Pritchard cautioned you shouldn’t expect to see the impacts happening right away, in particular when it comes to breaking up the black market for cannabis.

“That’s going to take time if it even happens,” Pritchard explained. “I’m not sure if it will or won’t, but there are so many aspects that have to be perfect to make that happen.”

From his perspective, Pritchard sees the price, access and quality as having to be better than what’s available on the black market before a difference can be found.

See a video of the entire interview with Chief Marlo Pritchard: