Bill C-64 Adds Additional Consequences To Impaired Driving- Driving While High

Driving While High: The government officials goal is to keep all driver on the road safe. The question is how safe is someone driving under the influence of marijuana. The Centre for Addiction and Mental Health is set to undertake a three-year study to figure out if a person under the influence of marijuana can drive.

Bill C-45 & C-46 will make recreational weed legal in Canada; this will also affect driving laws. The new laws and regulations will be enforced by local police. Local police will be given oral fluid screening kits to detect marijuana and other drugs in a person system. The formula set in place is if a person has two to five nanograms of THC per mill of blood, will face criminal charges. This could cost the offender around $1,000 in fines. People caught driving with more than five nanograms in their blood or with a combination of alcohol, will face harsher punishments.

With that being said marijuana affects everyone differently. So even if someone does have five mills of THC in their blood, does this necessarily mean their high. The problem is THC can stay in your blood weeks after you have smoked. So these new laws already have a lot of room for misuse and abuse of power. Maybe drivers who decide to drive high should take a special class. I don’t think that punishment or fines are the answer.

There are a lot of variables to factor in when trying to determine how high a person is. A person tolerance level has to be factored in, as well as their body weight and size. Government officials are currently researching how high a driver can get and stay safe on the road. Even though the research has not been fully finished.

The laws and consequences have been set in place. This seems as though to be counterproductive. There should have been clear data before any laws were changed. So now the people have to wait and see what the official findings say and then hope laws will change to better represent that. There is currently 1 million dollars on the table to study this problem.

Should driving while high be a punishable offense?