Awareness campaign begins
Public safety officials, P.E.I. Cannabis distribute literature
Public safety officials, along with P.E.I. Cannabis workers, handed out information material recently in O’Leary, laying out the facts about cannabis legalization hoping to spark the conversation about safety before the impending holiday season.
While most drivers graciously accepted the information material police and other public safety officials were handing out during a cannabis awareness traffic stop in O’Leary Tuesday, a few drivers respectively declined. “I’m not bothering with that stuff,” one driver said as he waved off the information material. Joining RCMP and Highway Safety officers during the traffic stop along O’Leary’s Main Street, not far from the provincial government’s still unopened West Prince cannabis store, were Robert Guth, a JVI driving instructor and West Prince Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) volunteer and Mark Roberts, manager of the PEI Cannabis O’Leary store.
“It’s just the facts, really; getting involved in the community, letting the residents know what cannabis legalization is all about, and spark some conversation before the holidays,” said Const. Sean Grant in explaining the awareness event.
Zach Currie, director of cannabis operations for the P.E.I. Cannabis Management Corporation, welcomed the opportunity to have the O’Leary store manager join the awareness event.
“Initiatives like this allow P.E.I. Cannabis to deepen our roots and become proponents of public safety and responsible consumption and, obviously, compliance with the laws around adult use of cannabis in the province,” he said.
Currie said the event was an opportunity to discourage motorists from driving after consumption, from driving impaired. He said he hopes to have staff involved in similar initiatives in the future. Guth is hopeful the message that driving under the influence apples to drugs as well as alcohol. The driving instructor said he has heard of students attending parties agreeing to be the “sober” driver.
“But what I learned early on is that the sober driver is the one who doesn’t drink alcohol, but might tend to smoke up with marijuana,” he said.
“I’m telling them how the sober driver is the one with nothing in their system.”
He said there seems to be “the sense that marijuana doesn’t carry the same risks as driving under the influence of alcohol, and it’s just not true.”
Grant said the RCMP wanted to get a consistent message out: “We won’t tolerate impaired driving on our roads. That’s pretty much our initiative out here today.”