Cannabis Smoking Canadian Officer, Ron Francis, Found Dead

After stirring up a nationwide controversy over using medical cannabis on duty, Royal Canadian Mounted Police officer Ron Francis was found dead from an apparent suicide in his apartment on Monday October 6th. 

“It appears no one else was involved in the death,” said RCMP Assistant Commissioner Roger Brown during a press conference, adding that, “It is a tragic loss.” In a Monday night post the group Families of the RCMP for PTSD Awareness wrote, “We write this note with a very heavy heart, we have lost another RCMP member, Cpl. Ron Francis who lost his battle with PTSD, today Monday Oct 6th, 2014.”

Officer Francis smoked prescribed medical cannabis to help treat his Post Traumatic Stress Disorder related to his 21 years serving with the RCMP. Francis quickly became widely recognized in Canada after he appeared in a CBC story smoking cannabis while wearing his RCMP red serge dress uniform.

“I get up in the morning, have my coffee and the marijuana. I go at lunchtime, have a marijuana joint, and then again in the evening. That would be my medical regime,” he told CBC. “I’m still functional, but your nervous system is relaxed, and that makes a big difference.”

Ron Francis medicating with cannabis.

Francis said he made the appearance as a protest of the RCMP’s PTSD policy, which is in great need of reform. In Canada, 23 first respondents including police officers, firefighters, paramedics, soldiers and corrections officers have committed suicide since last April. 

“I’m trying to draw attention to the fact that the RCMP fails to have a program in place for proper [PTSD] screening for their members and proper information for their families,” Francis told the National Post. “People are dying, they’re committing suicide because there’s no proper backup,” he added. Francis was a witness to several homicide crime scenes and fatal automobile accidents, saying that a major influence behind his PTSD diagnosis occurred in 2012 when authorities broke up a murder plot against him.

Following his appearance on CBC, Francis was ordered to turn in his uniform. Justice Minister Peter MacKay, who disapproved of Francis’ actions said that an RCMP officer smoking cannabis “sets a poor example for Canadians.” RCMP Deputy Commissioner Gilles Moreau stated that officers with a medical cannabis prescription could use their medication – just not while in public wearing their uniform.

Francis stated, “I had to really make a moral decision about it. Because the RCMP and law enforcement, they seem so anti-marijuana, and that’s a hard thing to overcome, so I had to make that decision for my own health. It wasn’t based on my career or anything.”

Several weeks later, Francis was charged with assaulting two fellow officers in Oromocto after arresting him for breaching the terms of his probation by consuming alcohol.

Weeping as he plead guilty, Francis expressed his hope that his case would bring attention to the issue of post traumatic stress disorder. He was due to be sentenced next month.