The number of people getting caught stoned behind the wheel is up for the fourth straight year, says Blacklock's Reporter..StatsCan data showed police reported 7,690 incidents of drug-impaired driving violations last year compared to 7,621 in 2020. There were 6,573 violations reported in 2018, the year Parliament legalized recreational marijuana..Other marijuana crimes also increased last year, analysts wrote in a study..“Nationally the rate of police-reported cannabis offences under the Cannabis Act and Controlled Drugs And Substances Act increased for the first time in nine years, rising 5% in 2021,” said the report..Most offences involved illegal imports and exports of marijuana. The number of cannabis offences totaled 13,560..When it legalized marijuana, Parliament also passed Bill C-46 An Act To Amend The Criminal Code that permitted random roadside testing of drivers under threat of $1,000 fines. StatsCan’s Centre for Justice Statistics in 2018 testimony at the Senate legal affairs committee said it could not forecast the impact of legalization on impaired driving..The Department of Public Safety in a May 2 report said marijuana had become a “major contributor” to fatal road 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.
