"and then go on to spout unscientific...crap...about cannabis and driving. If you are ignorant don’t insult people that know."
Potholes: The new fight over ‘drugged driving’
Canada’s 4/20 celebration of all things pot may be more festive than ever this year as partakers anticipate the laws legalizing marijuana coming this summer.
But a new study showing significantly increased traffic deaths on the April 20 “high holiday” is a sobering reminder of the dangers that marijuana — and freer access to it — could pose on the country’s roadways.
The study, co-authored by Toronto physician Donald Redelmeier, suggests the number of fatal accidents in the United States on 4/20 increase at magnitudes that rival those seen on drink-happy Super Bowl Sundays
And as the Bill C-45 cannabis legislation lumbers through the Senate, debate is also focusing on accompanying legislation that will set out testing procedures and penalties for “drugged driving.”
Andy Murie, CEO of MADD Canada, seen receiving a donation cheque from a liquor store manager in P.E.I. "Right now you can drive impaired by cannabis with very little fear of being caught and detected," Murie says. (GVMT OF PEI)
Indeed, heated arguments over the proposed Criminal Code amendment — known as Bill C-46 — have spilled out of the upper chamber to cause a kind of road rage between leaders of two prominent advocacy groups.
“The thing is, he’s full of crap,” says MADD Canada head Andrew Murie of a key opponent.
That opponent, John Conroy, president of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, known as NORML, says Murie “obviously doesn’t understand how (cannabis) works.”
The two embody the broader arguments over the bill — arguments that pit critical deterrence strategies against concepts of fairness and justice.
On the deterrence side, Murie says the main marijuana law will place the drug in the hands of untold more Canadians, some of whom will doubtlessly smoke or bake it and get behind the wheel.
Unexpectedly, this doesn’t frighten Murie — whose group has led the campaign against impaired driving for decades — nearly as much as the countervailing testing bill thrills him.
That bill will allow police forces to purchase and deploy oral fluid testers — so-called spit kits — that will accompany the familiar alcohol breathalyzer machines in tens of thousands of cruisers across the country.
Dr. Donald Redelmeir of Sunnybrook Hospital has studied fatal car accidents in the U.S. on April 20ths, the so-called "high holiday" for maijuana users, and found that fatalities jump. (RICHARD LAUTENS/TORONTO STAR)
These testers will screen for THC, the psychoactive component of cannabis, as well as for cocaine and methamphetamine.
The law will also define the levels of the drugs that will trigger a positive spit kit test, like the 0.08 blood alcohol content for booze.
For THC, Murie says the level has been set at 25 nanograms in oral fluid; for cocaine and meth it is 50 nanograms.
“Those are really high levels,” he says.
But they were set high, Murie says, so the devices could withstand the lawsuits that will doubtlessly challenge their veracity.
“For example, if it was set at five nanograms for THC, there might be a case where the reliability (of the devices) drops from maybe 98 per cent to 91,” he says. “So if you set it really high, you get the most impaired people.… Anyone who says they smoked yesterday, there’s not a chance in a million years they’re going to fail one of those tests.”
The roadside spit kits will simply deliver a pass or fail verdict. A failure will prompt further screens, likely in the form of a blood test at a nearby police station or clinic.
Marijuana advocates say regular users of cannabis will have a far higher tolerance for the drug than others, and shouldn't necessarily be judged impaired at the same levels in their systems. (CARLOS OSORIO/TORONTO STAR)
It’s here that the legal ramifications come into play, with a 2 nanogram THC reading in the blood prompting a summary conviction and five nanograms representing a criminal offence — with punishments in line with those for alcohol.
(Current impaired driving penalties include a $1,000 fine and a one year driving suspension with subsequent offences bringing longer license losses and jail time.)
There is also a booze-plus-pot provision which makes a combination of a 0.05 alcohol level plus 2.5 nanograms of THC a criminal count as well.
Potholes: The new fight over ‘drugged driving’
Canada’s 4/20 celebration of all things pot may be more festive than ever this year as partakers anticipate the laws legalizing marijuana coming this summer.
But a new study showing significantly increased traffic deaths on the April 20 “high holiday” is a sobering reminder of the dangers that marijuana — and freer access to it — could pose on the country’s roadways.
The study, co-authored by Toronto physician Donald Redelmeier, suggests the number of fatal accidents in the United States on 4/20 increase at magnitudes that rival those seen on drink-happy Super Bowl Sundays
And as the Bill C-45 cannabis legislation lumbers through the Senate, debate is also focusing on accompanying legislation that will set out testing procedures and penalties for “drugged driving.”
Andy Murie, CEO of MADD Canada, seen receiving a donation cheque from a liquor store manager in P.E.I. "Right now you can drive impaired by cannabis with very little fear of being caught and detected," Murie says. (GVMT OF PEI)
Indeed, heated arguments over the proposed Criminal Code amendment — known as Bill C-46 — have spilled out of the upper chamber to cause a kind of road rage between leaders of two prominent advocacy groups.
“The thing is, he’s full of crap,” says MADD Canada head Andrew Murie of a key opponent.
That opponent, John Conroy, president of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, known as NORML, says Murie “obviously doesn’t understand how (cannabis) works.”
The two embody the broader arguments over the bill — arguments that pit critical deterrence strategies against concepts of fairness and justice.
On the deterrence side, Murie says the main marijuana law will place the drug in the hands of untold more Canadians, some of whom will doubtlessly smoke or bake it and get behind the wheel.
Unexpectedly, this doesn’t frighten Murie — whose group has led the campaign against impaired driving for decades — nearly as much as the countervailing testing bill thrills him.
That bill will allow police forces to purchase and deploy oral fluid testers — so-called spit kits — that will accompany the familiar alcohol breathalyzer machines in tens of thousands of cruisers across the country.
Dr. Donald Redelmeir of Sunnybrook Hospital has studied fatal car accidents in the U.S. on April 20ths, the so-called "high holiday" for maijuana users, and found that fatalities jump. (RICHARD LAUTENS/TORONTO STAR)
These testers will screen for THC, the psychoactive component of cannabis, as well as for cocaine and methamphetamine.
The law will also define the levels of the drugs that will trigger a positive spit kit test, like the 0.08 blood alcohol content for booze.
For THC, Murie says the level has been set at 25 nanograms in oral fluid; for cocaine and meth it is 50 nanograms.
“Those are really high levels,” he says.
But they were set high, Murie says, so the devices could withstand the lawsuits that will doubtlessly challenge their veracity.
“For example, if it was set at five nanograms for THC, there might be a case where the reliability (of the devices) drops from maybe 98 per cent to 91,” he says. “So if you set it really high, you get the most impaired people.… Anyone who says they smoked yesterday, there’s not a chance in a million years they’re going to fail one of those tests.”
The roadside spit kits will simply deliver a pass or fail verdict. A failure will prompt further screens, likely in the form of a blood test at a nearby police station or clinic.
Marijuana advocates say regular users of cannabis will have a far higher tolerance for the drug than others, and shouldn't necessarily be judged impaired at the same levels in their systems. (CARLOS OSORIO/TORONTO STAR)
It’s here that the legal ramifications come into play, with a 2 nanogram THC reading in the blood prompting a summary conviction and five nanograms representing a criminal offence — with punishments in line with those for alcohol.
(Current impaired driving penalties include a $1,000 fine and a one year driving suspension with subsequent offences bringing longer license losses and jail time.)
There is also a booze-plus-pot provision which makes a combination of a 0.05 alcohol level plus 2.5 nanograms of THC a criminal count as well.
