Cannabis-impaired driving won’t be a new problem for police

Though legalized cannabis will be new ground for the Canadian public after Oct. 17, the widespread use of cannabis is not.

That’s part of why law enforcement and advocacy groups say they feel comfortable the regime that has been put in place by Bill C-46 to catch pot-impaired drivers will be adequate — for now.

Mike Serr is the deputy chief of the Abbotsford, B.C., police department and drug advisory committee chairman with the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police, which will be meeting in Halifax for its annual conference later this month.

He said while there is some concern about a spike in impaired drivers with new cannabis users, cannabis-impaired driving is something police have been dealing with for a long time.

“This isn’t a new problem that’s going to start Oct. 17,” Serr said.

Since the Liberal government announced plans to legalize pot, Serr said, significant effort has gone in across the country to increase the number of drug recognition experts, which he said are critical in detecting drug-impaired drivers.

There has also been increased training for the standardized field sobriety tests that already exist for cannabis and other drugs.

Royal Newfoundland Constabulary’s drug recognition evaluation co-ordinator Const. Karen Didham said testing practices have changed over the years, but standardized field sobriety tests have been in place a dozen years, and have been catching drivers who are drug impaired.

Officers continue to be trained to recognize the signs of drug impairment and to keep up with evolving testing practices.

“As the Criminal Code is amended and the Highway Traffic Act is amended, we are continuing to do training,” Didham said, adding that applies to any new testing practices, devices or tools introduced as a result of amendments.

“It’s all about training of officers to detect the signs and symptoms of impairment, to use proper testing practices and also ultimately to lay a charge (if warranted) at the end of the day.”

Ottawa has made available $161 million over five years to help provide access to drug screening devices that will be required in each jurisdiction, training front-line officers, building law enforcement capacity, developing policy, bolstering research, and raising public awareness about the dangers of drug-impaired driving.

Of that, $81 million will be available to provinces and territories for their own law enforcement training.