A report from the department of Justice stated that since Parliament legalized marijuana, the number of people driving under the influence of drugs has doubled. . Driving will stonedCourtesy ecowatch.com .Bill C-46 An Act to Amend the Criminal Code gave police officers the ability to randomly drug test drivers..“The rate of drug-impaired driving offences increased 105% from 2017 to 2020, from nine to 19 offences per 100,000 population respectively,” said the report Cannabis Crime Statistics. .“Due to the new legislation, police have additional means available to detect drug-impaired driving, which may in part explain this increase.”.“The rate of drug-impaired driving offences increased in all but two jurisdictions,” said the report. The exceptions were Nunavut and the Northwest Territories..Cannabis Crime Statistics said rates of drug-impaired driving jumped 212% in British Columbia under legalization followed by Yukon (up 163%), Prince Edward Island (142%), Ontario (133%), New Brunswick (130%), Québec (88%), Newfoundland and Labrador (83%), Saskatchewan (65%), Nova Scotia (58%), Manitoba (48%) and Alberta (47%)..According to Blacklock’s Reporter, Statistics Canada will update drug impairment figures in August. In a 2018 submission to the Senate Legal Affairs committee, the agency said it could not predict the impact of legalization on impaired driving..“I cannot predict,” testified Yvan Clermont, then-director of StatsCan’s Centre for Justice Statistics. .“Do you have any statistics where you’ve asked people whether they will use marijuana or use it more often after it’s legalized?” asked Sen. Denise Batters (SK). .“We have not asked that,” replied Clermont..“The more I hear about this issue, the more I can’t believe the government is going to legalize this,” said Batters. .“I’m even more alarmed at how marijuana legalization, and even more impaired driving, will cripple our court system.”.In a May 2, 2022 report, the department of Public Safety stated that marijuana has become a “major contributor” to deadly car accidents..“Drug-impaired driving is a major contributor to fatal road crashes and young people continue to be the largest group of drivers who die in crashes and test positive for drugs,” said the report..According to the survey, many people who use marijuana do not think they are unable to drive..“Among those who have operated a vehicle while under the influence of cannabis, most said they did not recognize their behaviour as risky with two in five, 39%, reporting they did not feel impaired and one in five, 23%, believing they could still drive carefully,” wrote researchers..More than a quarter of cannabis users, 26%, said they “operated a vehicle while under the influence.”
