New rules on cannabis impairment
New drug-impaired driving laws went into effect June 26
When Felicia started using medical marijuana three years ago she was desperate to find relief from arthritis pain that didn’t leave her head in a fog.
Felicia, who is from Cape Breton and fishes for a living, didn’t want to use her real name because of the stigma surrounding people who use cannabis both medicinally and recreationally.
Thinking her arthritis started in her 20s, Felicia, now in her 50s, has been diagnosed with osteoarthritis. She has tried various arthritis medications and pain medications, including opioids, to manage the pain. They worked for a while but had to be taken regularly and Felicia didn’t like how the pain medications made her feel — dizzy, drowsy, and brain-fogged.
That’s why she asked her doctor to try medical marijuana. Since starting, Felicia said her pain has decreased substantially, it is easier to work and she has no brain fog. She also likes that she uses it when needed instead of every four-to-six-hours
like the other medications.
“I found pot was the only thing that really helped when I needed it. I’ve got (arthritis)
everywhere now and this is the only thing that helps with the pain,” she said.
But with the new drug-impairment laws for driving that became law on June 26, part one of Bill C-46, Felicia worries she could be charged with impaired driving because of her medicine.
“I am worried that I am not going to be able to drive (with these THC per se limits). Then there are the ones who are on the opioid (prescription pain medications) that can still drive but I can’t,” she said.
That’s because the laws determine impairment by cannabis by the per se limits in the blood (2 nanograms (ng) of THC per ml of blood or higher) and these limits can take up to a week to lower, well after intoxication has passed.
James O’Hara, president of Canadians for Fair Access to Medical Marijuana (CFAMM), told the Cape Breton Post it takes THC levels longer to go down than a blood alcohol level because THC is stored in fat cells. Impairment is often thought to be gone within four to eight hours, which is why many prescriptions advise not driving for that time after consumption.
However, someone who uses marijuana daily, like a medical user, not only builds up a tolerance to intoxication by the drug, they also could consistently have higher THC per se levels, said O’Hara. Thus, they would always run the risk of an impaired driving charge if an officer administered the roadside oral test, which officers hope to have before October.
“First, I want to be very clear that CFAMM is completely against any impaired driving,” said O’Hara, who uses medical cannabis to control his seizures.
“The problem is with the word impairment. It’s not clearly defined. Unlike blood alcohol content, which has scientific proof behind it, THC levels are still being debated and has to be studied … CFAMM supports more research and funding for this.”
O’Hara said Felicia’s worries are justified and that CFAMM worries the new laws will “criminalize medical marijuana users.” The advocacy group has
been vocal in its stance, writing letters to the justice department and participating in standing committees on the topic
“By definition it means that it is very possible for medical marijuana patients to be charged even when they aren’t impaired,” the Toronto resident said.
Staff Sgt. Gil Boone of Cape Breton Regional Police Service doesn’t think this will be an issue since officers will need suspicion of impairment by drug (reasonable and probable grounds) before they can do a roadside oral test.
“The reality is the per se limits give us a baseline … if a DRE
officer (drug recognition) gets to the stage of testing, their conclusion isn’t based on one element,” said Boone, who was a DRE officer for four years before being promoted to management in April.
“It’s a totality of factors … it would be the same as most medications. If they are using them as directed and not mixing, then they shouldn’t show signs of impairment or be impaired.”
For O’Hara, this isn’t enough since it is “subjective” and leaves the decision to test up to
the responding officer, which he fears could mean no consistency in testing across the country.
“Cannabis is very unique and it is unique in how it reacts to each individual … We haven’t had the time to do the proper studies into this (determining impairment),” he said.
“We don’t think the police or the courts want to see people who aren’t intoxicated arrested … Nobody wants to see innocent people charged.”