A drug long vilified by lawmakers finally becomes legal on Oct. 17, in reasonable quantities, at least.
We've known for many years that cannabis isn't as harmful as opponents made it out to be. Yet, even today, it's not without controversy and a debatable degree of risk. Part of that revolves around driving after consuming marijuana.
It's fair to point out that cannabis use has taken place for a long time, despite being illegal, and we haven't suffered an epidemic of vehicle crashes because of it. However, there have been some documented effects. Cannabis-related collisions caused 75 deaths and 4,407 injuries in 2012, according to the Canadian Centre on Substance Use and Addiction. Another 24,879 people were victims of property damage resulting from cannabis collisions that year, stated a study commissioned by that organization.
Exactly how much marijuana one can consume and then safely drive a vehicle isn't easy to determine. There are a variety of reasons for that. The THC level in marijuana, which causes the "high," is an important factor.
Generally speaking, marijuana use leads, temporarily, to poorer concentration and decision-making ability as well as slower reaction times. However, science has shown that body chemistry varies from one individual to the next, meaning we process and react differently to cannabis. And exactly how long it remains in your system is a bit of a guessing game as well.
Some marijuana users are also going to be consuming alcohol and that mix changes the equation entirely.
Then we get to the testing methods. These too could be inexact. The federal government has adopted a device for roadside saliva testing that has been questioned on a number of fronts, including that it's designed to be used at 5 C to 40 C. Will it be reliable at -30 C in Yellowknife? If not, we'll be seeing
police officers performing more roadside sobriety tests and those officers will exercise discretion in assessing how a motorist responds to commands.
We should be prepared for impaired driving safety blitzes in the weeks and months following cannabis legalization. If you toke up and get behind the wheel, you not only run the risk of a life-altering accident, you face potential fines and a licence suspension. These things never go over well with insurance companies when determining your rates.
One of the recommendations in the aforementioned study by the Canadian Centre on Substance Use and Addiction is that more research is needed. We second that idea. Likewise, we support further education about what's already been determined when it comes to impaired driving. We applaud efforts by DME Driving School, for example, which is introducing new lessons to reflect Canada's evolving cannabis laws and risks associated with cannabis use and driving.
"If you're going to do it, it's the same with alcohol, we want you to do it safely and not be high and drive," said driving instructor Colleen Tsikira.
And as Dawn Pottinger, co-founder of Yellowknife's Defensive Driving School, said, these aren't just lessons for driving instructors to impart, it's a conversation that should be taking place between parents and their children of driving age.
We do have some fresh statistics at our fingertips, courtesy of Statistics Canada. Twenty-seven
per cent of Yellowknifers in a recent survey acknowledged that they had used cannabis in the past three months. The national average was 16 per cent. Marijuana is especially popular among younger people, which is a large demographic in the NWT capital. Educating them will go a long way.
Let's not forget that the NWT has, unfortunately, far exceeded the national drinking and driving rates for years.
While we shouldn't push the panic button about people getting high and driving, we can't afford to be complacent either.