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Hashishi

What to do about toking and driving?
8-13-'07 | The Toronto Star | by Emile Therien

Is a driver on pot as much of a danger on the road as a driver above the legal alcohol limit?

In fact, alcohol poses a much higher driving risk than cannabis. That is not to say it is safe to drive under the influence of pot. Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), its psychoactive ingredient, definitely impairs driving ability, but in very different ways from alcohol. Relatively few road fatalities test positive for THC alone; most often, it is found in combination with alcohol.

The criminal threshold for alcohol is a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) of 80 milligrams per 100 millilitres of blood. A large body of research shows the risk of a crash starts to go up dramatically at that level. However, no impairment levels are in place for pot. Complicating the issue, THC can be detected in the body for up to four weeks, although its impairing effects do not last.

Why does this matter? It matters because the federal government wants stricter Criminal Code provisions for drug-impaired driving. The proposed law will clog the courts while doing little to solve the problem.

Criminal legislation must be airtight. The accused is innocent until proven guilty. A very high level of proof is required because the consequences are extremely serious. Beyond the immediate penalties, anyone convicted of a criminal offence will carry that record for life.

Impairment levels that will stand in a criminal court are a prerequisite for what the government wants to do. After that, tools must be developed and approved to measure levels for all of them. Then, police must be trained to use those tools. This could take years because the evidence produced must meet the rigorous demands of a criminal court.

At best, the federal government's drug driving bill is premature and should be put on hold until the necessary prerequisites are in place. That said, the Canada Safety Council advocates immediate precautionary measures.

In Canada, the federal government shares responsibility for impaired driving with the provinces and territories. The federal Criminal Code is not the only legislation dealing with impaired driving.

Under Ontario's Highway Traffic Act, administrative licence suspensions protect the public by taking potentially dangerous drivers off the road. Suspensions for drinking drivers below the criminal BAC are an effective tool in the fight against impaired driving. They give those drivers a firm warning, with swift and certain consequences. No lengthy wait for a trial, no exorbitant legal costs, just a major inconvenience and a strong message never to do it again. Under traffic regulations, you're guilty unless you can prove yourself innocent, and it's not usually worth the expense.

To deal with the danger posed by pot-impaired drivers, the province should expand its use of administrative licence suspensions. As for the federal government, it finally needs to develop and fund an effective, comprehensive national drug strategy that includes a strong element of public education.

The underlying problem isn't that people are toking and driving. Cannabis is illegal. Why are so many Canadians using it at all? Its negative health and safety effects extend beyond impairment while driving. Rather than adding unenforceable provisions to the Criminal Code, the federal government needs to develop an intelligent strategy that includes measures to reduce cannabis use, with an emphasis on youth and habitual users.

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SWP



"I'm not into this detail stuff. I'm more concepty." -- "If I know the answer I'll tell you the answer, and if I don't, I'll just respond, cleverly." -- "Secretary Powell and I agree on every single issue that has ever been before this administration except for those instances where Colin's still learning." -- "As we know, there are known knowns; there are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns: the ones we don't know we don't know."

 

sterbo

A seriously twisted attempt at logic if you ask me...
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Buzzby

As with alcohol, it all depends on how much you have used, how recently, and how strongly you react to it.

Is he saying that the problem would be resolved if cannabis were to be legalized? I like that!

Probably because it's pleasurable and relaxing and far less dangerous than the legal recreational drugs.

Its negative health and safety effects are mostly lies promoted by prohibitionists.

Cigarette use in the United States has been reduced dramatically, due to an honest public education campaign detailing the dangers of smoking tobacco. Perhaps such a campaign would reduce underage and excessive marijuana use. The problem is, if you're going to be honest, there aren't that many bad things to say about marijuana.

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