Ad blitz warns drivers to steer clear of driving while high on marijuana

The Alberta government has rolled out a $167,000 online ad campaign warning drivers that getting behind the wheel high on marijuana “face the same consequences” as drunk drivers.

The series of ads, which began popping up on websites and social media Nov. 29, are aimed at younger, less experienced drivers who, may engage in riskier behaviour and believe marijuana doesn’t impair their abilities, said Wendy Doyle, Alberta Transportation’s executive director for the office of traffic safety.

“A lot of people believe that A) it’s safer, B) that they can’t get caught, or C) that the consequences are different or not as severe as driving if you’re drunk,” she said.

One of the illustrated two-panel ads depicts four women in a convertible with the driver passing a bottle of beer to a passenger.

The second panel shows a nearly identical image but has the driver passing a joint.

The ad warns, “Spot the Difference” and “Behind the Wheel, There Isn’t One.”

“When we look at the Criminal Code and when we look at impairment — substances that impair your cognitive abilities to safely drive a vehicle — cannabis most definitely is that,” said Doyle.

Doyle said officials from Colorado and Washington, states that legalized recreational marijuana use in recent years, urged Alberta to launch education campaigns and collect baseline data before Ottawa introduces and passes legalization legislation.

The Trudeau government promised to introduce legislation next spring.

Its nine-member task force submitted its recommendations earlier this week.

The government panel’s findings won’t be made public until mid-December.

Provincial and municipal governments have been bracing for the impact of legalization on a range of issues, such as land-use planning and business licensing, legal age limits and impaired driving.

“In the eyes of the law, there is no difference between drunk driving and drugged driving,” Transportation Minister Brian Mason said in a statement.

“That is because alcohol and drugs impair a driver’s ability and increase the risk of an otherwise fully preventable crash.”

There is no legal blood-concentration driving limit for THC, the primary psychoactive cannabinoid found in marijuana.

Further, blood concentration tests may not accurately reflect whether someone who has used marijuana is impaired.

THC can be detected weeks after it was consumed.

And chronic users — such as medicinal users — can develop a higher tolerance to its effects than those who imbibe occasionally.

“Our premise is to really get out in front of any legislation to start getting people to think about, ‘OK, driving is a task and a privilege and I need to make sure that for whatever I’m using (cannabis) … I have to be cognizant that it would impair my ability to safely operate that vehicle,’” said Doyle.

The Canadian Automobile Association has called for a federally funded public education program to warn of the dangers of cannabis-impaired driving before the country legalizes recreational pot.

Research has shown marijuana can negatively impact drivers’ reaction time, concentration, shortterm memory and visual function, according to the Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse.

However, studies out of the U.S. and the European Union found marijuana smokers have only a minimally higher risk of getting into an accident than sober drivers

... we can begin to do really informed, respectful public education around things like driving.

— and pose far less risk than drunk drivers. Craig Jones, executive director the cannabis law reform group NORML Canada, said the Alberta government ad campaign appears well-intentioned but cautioned the threat of legal action typically falls on deaf ears.

“If they’re thinking public education and public health, they’re going in the right direction,” Jones said.

“If they’re thinking that people are going to respond to criminal sanctions, then there’s not much evidence that works.

“We’re going to have to unlearn a great deal of mythology from the reefer madness era.

“But I don’t think the sky is going to fall and now that we’re emerging from the big-war-on-drugs lie we can begin to do really informed, respectful public education around things like driving.”