The upcoming legalization of marijuana in July, has some concerned that it will lead to an increase in harder drugs. 

"In the drug world, there's always people looking for different types of drugs," explained Police Chief, Paul Ladouceur, "and there's always that risk that people will escalate to other drugs."

"When we look at the legalization of marijuana, there's people using marijuana now, we know that. Will there be a drastic increase because it is legalized? Time will tell as legalization occurs."

Ladouceur adds that education is key.

"Look at smoking. Smoking is legal but we educate the public on the dangers of smoking as we do with drinking and excessive drinking. Education will transition and continue with marijuana. In other words, just because it is legal, doesn't mean it's healthy for you and it doesn't mean that everyone should be going out and doing it."

However, he doesn't believe that once marijuana becomes legal, that people will be moving on to harder drugs. 

"That's a leap, there's no two ways about it."

"I think when we see those heavy addictions, those are people who are always looking for a significant increased high. And I think that is happening now. I don't think we're going to see a drastic change in that just because there is legalization of marijuana."

"People make that decision consciously when they go and step up to that next level. There are so many factors that play into drug use an why people transition to different types of drugs."

"It could be said, someone moves from alcohol, do they then go on to smoke marijuana. We all know that alcohol is a drug, it affects the brain but are we seeing somebody because they drink beer, they automatically transition to marijuana."

"I don't see it being a huge concern. I see the fact that we're still going to be dealing with crystal meth users and crack cocaine users, and cocaine users, but I don't see with legalization, that's going to explode."

"There is the chance that organized crime will look to other markets. For example, if organized crime is dealing marijuana, they may look into other markets outside of marijuana to make money. But they're doing that now."

He adds that there are still many unknowns surrounding legalization that will only be known once it has become legal.