Officials in Canada Report No Increase in Impaired Driving After Cannabis Legalization
During the build-up to the legalization of cannabis in Canada on October 17, most public and official were speaking about how to implement legalization without problems–not whether legalization was a good idea. However, one talking point about anti-legalization was the main point in national debates: the worries based on the post-legalization spike in driving under the influence of marijuana. And people finally knew that Canada was set to legalize cannabis, not if, law enforcement authorities hand-wringing over the problem succeeded in bringing vast amounts of money from public coffers and invested it into training officers, establishing drug awareness programs, and expensive roadside testing equipment. However, just a few weeks after marijuana was made legal, early research conducted by the CBC shows that police witness an increase in instances of driving under the influence of cannabis.
Safety groups in Canada are worried that legalization can result in a rise in driving under the influence of marijuana. Canada has among the highest rank countries regarding drunk driving. Most deaths related to traffic are related to alcohol, and years of open source messaging about the risk of drunk driving has led to no effect. However, with little or no opposition to cannabis, these worries have been drastically exaggerated, putting excess public investment and energy into an issue that is yet to be profitable.
In 2017, the campaign against the influx of risky, drug-addled drivers driving in Canadian highways was negatively received. A Canadian road safety group called R.I.D.E. Checks associated with an advertising firm to establish three billboard advertisements for rare cannabis strains. The name of the strains was focused on a precis that a cannabis-impaired driver might face, such as Kourtroom Kush, Slammer Time, and White Whiplash.
Based on the prioritized side of things, the police in Canada consistently blew the alarm about driving under the influence of cannabis, stating that sufficient lack time to teach officers on how to identify a cannabis impaired person or utilize new test detection gadgets. Canadian Police also established a new training agenda based on marijuana and created an online course to teach officers about the new cannabis laws. In July, the government of Canada declared a $62.5 million, five-year expending package to fight against drug-impaired driving. On the other hand, the attorney general of Canada approved a German-engineered mouth swab drug test that is currently faced with legal challenges. Moreover, before the Cannabis Act was passed, lawmakers increased the penalties for driving impaired, implementing stringent new impaired driving rules.
But the CBC is stating that police departments in all provinces and territories nationwide haven’t witnessed a change in the number of instances related to cannabis-impaired driving. Driving under the influence of alcohol is still the main reason why police convict impaired drivers.
Moreover, among the references for driving under the influence of cannabis that has been issued by the police department, most represent the improper storage or passenger consumption. A driver under the influence was not the main reason for cannabis citations.
