Crystal Police ‘Playing Catchup’ to Marijuana Law That Begins Aug. 1
Crystal police Lt. Justin Tourville has seen many laws change and update in his more than 20 years on the force. So when the Minnesota Legislature passed a law that legalizes adult recreational use of marijuana earlier this year, he knew he and his fellow officers would be up for a challenge to adapt.
“We do grow with the changes,” said Lt. Tourville. “Cell phone use has changed over the years. You aren’t allowed to drive while holding a cell phone. That had some growing pains with it as well, and I think this will have those similar growing pains to it.”
Minnesotans will now be allowed to have and use marijuana, and even grow certain amounts of it at home.
“We just hope that they’re going to do it the right way,” said Tourville.
Police departments statewide, including in Crystal, are preparing for marijuana possession and growing to be legal among adults in Minnesota.
What won’t change is that driving while under the influence of marijuana–as difficult as that may be to detect sometimes–is still illegal.
“If we notice those impairment things and we don’t smell alcohol or they don’t register anything on their portable preliminary breath tests, then we’ll know we need to look for something else such as other chemical substances such as cannabis or some of the more illicit drugs,” said Tourville.
One important part of policing will also change, Tourville says, because officers will no longer be able to use the detection of marijuana smoke as a reason to search a vehicle.
“We’re looking at a different ballgame here because we aren’t necessarily going to be able to get into that car to search it quite as easily as we were before, in which case we were finding firearms, large quantities of drugs, and people who were outstanding as far as warrants go,” he said.
Lt. Tourville said he wishes officers had more time to prepare between when the legislature passed the law and when it goes into effect in about three weeks.
“Unfortunately it has been a process that has moved pretty fast, and because of that, law enforcement feels like maybe there were some steps missed that could have been focused on before the law was passed,” he said. “We feel a little bit like we’re playing catchup to it.”
He added, “This profession is all about adapting.”
