Up to the historic date that marijuana was officially legalized on October 17, 2018, heated public and legal debates about the integration of the little green plant mostly focused on whether this action would be in the best interest or the worst interest of the country. However, one very good point was brought up in national discussions: weed-impaired driving skyrocketing after legalization. Furthermore, when officials realized that Canada’s decision to legalize recreational pot was only a matter of time, law enforcement organizations managed to squeeze millions of dollars out of the country to fund special training for officers, programs to build drug awareness, and roadside testing equipment. However, only one month after the country legalized the drug, Canada quickly realized that marijuana-impaired driving had not increased. In fact, nothing changed at all. Let’s take a closer look at the official reports.
Where’s the Spike?
Overall, you must realize that Canadian safety groups were concerned about marijuana legalization for a very important reason. After all, our neighbor to the north has the worst drunk-driving record of any wealthy country, with 34% of all traffic deaths being related to alcohol impairment. However, with opposition to marijuana dwindling, the major concerns about the drug quickly became overinflated in the public eye. Thousands of millions of dollars were flooding into police programs and resources that, simply put, were not entirely necessary.
However, Canadian Police were still concerned about marijuana legalization and were afraid that they did not have enough resources to train officers. Finally, after creating a new program, the government revealed its plans to roll out a $62.5 million package to fight drug-related driving accidents.
Focus on Weed Driving Crimes
Interestingly, the CBD has confirmed that provincial and territorial police departments have not reported changes in rates of marijuana-impaired driving incidences. At this time, drunk driving is still the dominant crime along Canadian highways. Even more fascinating, most road crimes related to marijuana are related to poor storage or passenger consumption of the drug.
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