Colorado authorities are using smoke and mirrors to convince drivers to not smoke pot and drive.

Colorado authorities are using smoke and mirrors to convince drivers to not smoke pot and drive.
Photo Credit: David Zalubowski/AP Photo

Will legalizing pot increase impaired driving?

Canadian police should be ready to crack down on impaired driving once marijuana is legalized, warned a U.S. police officer in April. But a Canadian expert says Canada already has a law prohibiting impaired driving and provincial police have measures they can take to limit it as well. Furthermore, he says it’s not clear that cannabis impairs driving appreciably.

This crash made news in New York state on Oct. 8, 2012 when it was learned the driver had smoked marijuana. But science suggests pot does not impair a driver nearly as much as does alcohol.
This crash made news in New York state on Oct. 8, 2012 when it was learned the driver had smoked marijuana. But science suggests pot does not impair a driver nearly as much as does alcohol. © Frank Eltman/AP Photo/file

Police can stop you for legal drugs too

Canadian criminal law now prohibits driving when people are impaired by alcohol or any drug whether legally obtained or not. Police can stop a driver and administer a roadside breathalyser test where alcohol use is suspected or they can test a person’s coordination by asking them to walk a straight line for example.

If officers continue to suspect the driver is impaired they can take him or her to the police station for further tests. With alcohol there is a clear correlation between the amount consumed and the level of impairment. But with marijuana there is no such relationship yet established by science. That makes it difficult to prosecute cases.

Police can suspend drivers’ permits

However, several provincial governments allow police to suspend drivers’ licences for between 24 and 72 hours when they suspect drivers are impaired in any way, even if they are simply tired or sick. That prospect may be enough to discourage many people from smoking pot and driving, thinks Eugene Oscapella, a lawyer who teaches drug policy at the University of Ottawa.

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People need to take moral responsibility to not smoke and drive the same way as they do to not drink alcohol and drive, he said. “We now consider it quite a stupid thing to drink and to drive…for the vast majority of the population. We need to go ahead and instill that same sort of ethic in the minds of people who consume cannabis,” said Oscapella.

While the Canadian government plans to legalize the recreational use of marijuana in early 2017, he is not convinced that it will increase.

More than half of marijuana users say the drug does not impair their driving.
More than half of marijuana users say the drug does not impair their driving. © Shutterstock

Users think they can drive

Almost half of people who smoke marijuana think they can drive while under the influence of the drug, according to an insurance company survey. And they may be right. Studies have found differing results. Oscapella quotes a study done in the U.S. state of Virginia which looked at 3,000 road accidents. It found that a .08 ml level of alcohol (the legal limit in Canada) in the blood made drivers four times more likely to have an accident. While those who had consumed cannabis had only a slightly higher risk than had they not used it at all.

Not as bad as alcohol, but…

“Cannabis can affect your ability to drive, it can impair you. Anybody who’s used cannabis will know that,” says Oscapella. “But the type of impairment and the degree of impairment seems to be substantially less than consuming alcohol…

“That said, it’s not a good idea to smoke and drive, plain and simple.”

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