CBC News is reporting the death of Ron Francis, the RCMP officer who made headlines last year for demanding the right to smoke medicinal marijuana on the job.
You can see the logic; if you can take an aspirin on the job, why not be able to smoke a medicinal joint?
At the same time, you can see why the general public was a little sceptical of Ron's campaign. There are just way too many scenarios in which the "pot-addled cop" meme would just frighten the public and enrage the RCMP.
So sorry to see Francis take the easy way out. And no, he didn't die of a marijuana overdose - that's been tried many times in the history of cannabis and nobody's managed it yet.
No, I think it's fair to say that Ron Francis was hassled to death by our wretchedly back-asswards approach to drugs regulation. I agree we can't have uniformed cops out in public blazing doobies, but at the same time, he could have easily been accommodated with some sort of desk duty that wouldn't have compromised public safety and at the same time taken into consideration his legitimate medical issues.
Condolences to the family and loved ones, and RIP Cpl. Francis.
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