Cannabis laws to cost Waterloo regional police $2.63M or more

Ontario consumers may be paying $10 a gram for marijuana when it becomes legal later this year, but Waterloo Regional Police say new legislation will cost them much more.

Based on Federation of Canadian Municipality estimates, the service expects to pay anywhere between $2.63 million and $3.79 million when marijuana becomes legal.

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"We were looking at resource hours to train all the new officers in the legislation, resource hours to train in the new roadside device when it's approved, the impact on investigations related to illegal dispensaries," Larkin told CBC News.

Some projected costs "may not necessarily result in an increase to the budget," according to a report, but would involve "diverting resources" from elsewhere in the organization.

Although new legislation around the marijuana will change policing around possession of the substance, Larkin said he does not expect the changes to save the service any money.

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"Quite frankly, we've not been charging people for possession," he said. "There have been instances where we have charged somebody with possession, but if you look at the rate of our possession charges, they have been declining over the last number of years."