Imagine if you had to tell a family that their child was never coming home again...because a driver had a few too many drinks and they were too lazy to get a taxi? How would you feel if it was your child? Your brother, your parent, your best friend? Now imagine that you're the one who had a few drinks and thought...Home isn't too far. I'll make it without getting busted. While on the back streets worrying if the booze bus will catch you, you hit someone. How do you live with that for the rest of your life?By Isaac Teo, August 3, 2022
(We do not want this is Australia! However, it will be an inevitability if we continue to give cannabis a free pass, specifically in the ‘medicinal’ context.)
Cases of drug-impaired driving continued to rise for the fourth consecutive year since the Liberal government legalized marijuana in October 2018, according to police data collated by Statistics Canada.
Released on Aug. 2, the study, titled “Police-Reported Crime Statistics In Canada 2021,” found that there were 7,690 cases of drug-impaired driving violations in 2021 compared to 7,621 in 2020.
In 2019, 6,453 such incidents were reported—a 43 percent increase over 2018, the Canadian Centre for Justice and Community Safety Statistics, a department at Statistics Canada, said in its 2019 study released last July.
The latest study, first reported on by Blacklock’s Reporter on Aug. 3, also noted that other marijuana crimes increased last year.
“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, titled “Public Opinion Research On Drug-Impaired Driving.”
“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 percent) reporting they did not feel impaired and one in five (23 percent) believing they could (still) drive carefully.”
The report noted 26 percent of cannabis users have “operated a vehicle while under the influence.”
Cases of Drug-Impaired Driving up for Fourth Straight Year: Statistics Canada
