Suspected cannabis-impaired drivers more costly to test: report
Edmonton police say supply shortages skew the real impact on community and costs
It’s more costly for police to deal with a suspected cannabisimpaired driver than one suspected of driving drunk, suggests a new report heading to Edmonton city councillors.
New numbers in a report to be presented to city council’s community and public services committee on Oct. 16 show that in the first eight months of the year ending in August 2019, city police arrested 94 drug-impaired drivers, compared to 69 in the same period in 2018. Of those, 29 were suspected to be impaired by cannabis, compared to 17 in the first eight months of 2018. While the overall effect of cannabis legalization has been “lower than expected,” police note that may be because it was hard for the public to get the drug in the early months of legalization, owing to supply challenges.
“Because of the limited supply, consumption levels are still down, and a complete picture of cannabis impact on policing has yet to emerge,” reads the report from city administration, based on an update from the Edmonton Police Commission.
Police do know one thing — it takes six times as long to process a cannabis-impaired driver compared to a driver impaired by alcohol, explains the report.
For cannabis, an officer spends six hours processing an impaired driver, compared to one hour for a driver impaired by alcohol. This difference reflects the time required to complete a specialized field sobriety test, to administer a test by a drug recognition expert and take a blood sample.
The minimum cost to have one officer deal with a cannabisimpaired driver is $536.88, compared to $89.48 for an alcohol-impaired driver, suggests the report. Those costs don’t include labour for paperwork or court appearances.
City council has requested that the police commission report to the community and public services committee every quarter throughout 2019 about the impact and costs of cannabis legalization on the service.
In May 2018, city council approved $1.4 million for city police to prepare for cannabis legalization and to implement a mitigation plan. In November 2018, police asked for more funds to pay for new positions, training and equipment to deal with cannabis, but the request was turned down. More than 750 officers have been trained on cannabis enforcement to date. The report notes officers have seen an increase in “erratic and dangerous behaviour” by cannabis users with no previous history with the police or criminal justice system.