Business Reflection #4

Pot-smoking Mountie Ron Francis pleads not guilty to 3 charges
February 18, 2014
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/pot-smoking-mountie-ron-francis-pleads-not-guilty-to-3-charges-1.2522470


The business reflection that I chose to write about is a New Brunswick Mountie who made headlines for smoking marijuana in uniform. Cpl. Ron Francis plead not guilty to three charges: two of which were assaulting an officer and the last for resisting arrest. The RCMP officers held Ron Francis under the Mental Health Act fearing that he would hurt himself or others, and are waiting for psychiatric assessment. Ron Francis actually has a prescription for medical grade marijuana to treat his work-induced, post-traumatic stress disorder, although the issue that had arisen was if he shouldn't be smoking it in uniform; he was caught on video camera smoking in his red serge, claiming that he should be able to smoke marijuana while in uniform.


I chose this article because I find it a bit disturbing. I feel that if this officer, Ron Francis, has be detained concerning his mental well-being, why is he still an RCMP officer? Is he that good at his job? He is being charged with assaulting fellow officers.. The article mentions that he has work-induced PTSD, so why would they still need him as an officer? If his medical conditions are related to work and he needs medicinal marijuana, I think its completely wrong for him to be smoking it in uniform. I have absolutely no problem with people smoking marijuana at all, but when someone is an authority figure and they are arresting people for doing the same thing they were just doing, how is that right?