Its 420 – CAA says a high percentage of people drive illegally while under the influence of edible cannabis – SteinbachOnline.com

CAA conducted a survey in 2023 of Manitobans who drive under the influence of edible cannabis.

Ewald Friesen, government and community relations manager for CAA Manitoba, says it's the 4/20 weekend and drivers should be made aware.

“It occurred to us that your listeners would find a number of things disturbing. One of the key things we found was that when it comes to driving under the influence of cannabis, the trend is for people to consume edibles more and more frequently. Of course.”, it is the edible form of cannabis that appears in the driving test for cannabis sufferers. This means that a third of Manitobans have driven high while using edible cannabis. The first reason is that it is often very difficult to detect driving under the influence of cannabis because there are simply no roadside tests, but there is also a kind of disbelief that or there is a misconception that cannabis-impaired driving doesn't affect driving. Just like other forms of impairment would, today we're just going to go out and remind people that cannabis-impaired driving is actually impaired driving. “

Friesen says when it comes to detecting edible cannabis on a specific person, it's still pretty much the Wild West out there.

“Many of these things have not yet been tested in court as evidence for, say, a negligence charge. Much of this still needs to be clarified. And one of the other things is, I suppose, psychological.” Often people who drive high don't think it will have the same impact on their ability to drive as drinking. Our survey also showed us that 61 percent of people who have consumed edible forms of cannabis do not wait the required three hours before attempting to drive. And 61 percent of them simply get behind the wheel within three hours of consuming cannabis. A problem for several reasons: If you're new to edibles, you may not know how much to take. The other reason is that we can never really be sure how your body will absorb a dose timing; when will it start? If we don't wait those three hours, we could have problems.

Friesen says another part of this problem is the general false confidence people feel when they drive high.

“76 percent of respondents said they felt safe behind the wheel after consuming cannabis. This is of course wrong, because we know from study after study that the effects on reaction time are delayed. It's a little more difficult.” In order for you to be able to estimate the distance between you and the car in front of you, this is not only a problem for you on the road, but of course for everyone else too. “

He points out that most people are also unaware of the fact that driving under the influence has the same consequences as driving under the influence. In other words: We are talking about a driver's license being revoked and the deduction of ten demerit points.

“Your car could be impounded and if an accident occurs, God forbid it could have even more serious consequences. In the run-up to 420, your friends here at CAA are asking people to be very careful about driving too high, I mean.” We're not telling you not to do that, but we're saying there are some precautions, that we can all make to be a little safer on the road. This means that you should wait at least those three hours and find other alternatives to get home safely, be it an Uber, a taxi or a friend. Maybe test your cannabis use in safer moments before getting behind the wheel.