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Canada is "on the right track" with its approach to legalizing marijuana.
This is what Lewis Koski, the former director of the Colorado Marijuana Enforcement Division, said during the state's legalization process.
READ MORE: Now that this pot is legal, will Canada become the new Amsterdam?
In an interview with Mercedes Stephenson of the West Block, Koski said Canada still has a long way to go in addressing the realities of legalization and advancing the legalization of food products and cannabis concentrates. next year.
"All we have seen so far in Canada would suggest that the country is really on the right track," said Koski, who now runs a consulting firm advising governments on legalization, Freedman & Koski.
"So, in many ways, many of the factors that have made Canada so successful will continue to do so as they strive to regulate other products such as consumer products and concentrates. . "
WATCH BELOW: Are Canadians ready to be responsible for cannabis use?
The state of Colorado has legalized the recreational pot in 2014, but it remains illegal in the United States at the federal level.
In Canada, recreational cannabis is legalized on October 17th.
Legalization was a Liberal campaign commitment, but if Canadians are now free to smoke, vape and grow themselves – subject to certain limitations – it remains to be seen how to manage both the legalization of new consumption patterns and reduce the risk of impaired driving.
THC, a component of cannabis that produces the "high" effect, can stay in the blood for days.
READ MORE: Here are some of the challenges police may face in bringing charges of impaired driving
This led to an inquiry as to whether the forces of order would be able to prove that the people involved in an accident were actively affected at the time of the collision, instead of at the time of the collision. be sober and that the THC several days old remains in the blood.
The lack of clear scientific evidence on the duration of the effects of cannabis use also adds to this challenge.
WATCH BELOW: Cannabis Advocate Calls Legalization Day "A Springboard"
Koski raised these concerns, noting that Colorado had seen an increase in the number of accidents after the legalization of THC in the blood of those involved.
"What we do not know for sure is if people who tested positive for cannabis had a disability, because that test just does not exist," he said. he declares. "Therefore, we do not know if it was the cause of these accidents."
Despite this, he said the Colorado police officers did not face major difficulties in prosecuting cases of disability.
He said that training law enforcement to identify the signs of disability, as has been done in Canada, helps with that.
And it is not because the legalization has taken place that the work will be done.
"Right after legalization, we still had a lot of work to do. So we still have a lot of work to do on food regulation, which is not that different from what will happen in Canada in the next six to nine months, but we've also been working on implementation mandatory testing program and other issues, "he said. I said.
"It was not like we had legalized Day 1 and all the work was done … it's just a policy that continues to evolve over time."
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