Ontario scrambles to establish standards, tests for drugged drivers

One of the first questions people ask when marijuana legalization is discussed is how police will be able to keep our roads safe from stoned drivers.

Unlike alcohol, there is no roadside breathalyzer test available to detect marijuana consumption. Currently, police officers have a number of roadside tests to detect possible impairment due to drug use, including measuring the size and response times of a driver’s pupils.

“The number one priority for me and the ministry is to make sure that we maintain our road and highway safety at all times,” said Steven Del Duca, Ontario’s Minister of Transportation.

Del Duca says that the ministry is working to put together protocols and standards for roadside testing.

“What we have right now is the Ministry of Transportation is working closely with the RCMP and something called the Canadian Centre for Forensic Studies to develop a standard that could be applied both here in Ontario and across Canada,” he said. “And through that process work towards having technology that would be available and verifiable and work.”

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But Progressive Conservative Leader Patrick Brown says new technology may come at a steep cost.

“I’m worried about drug-impaired driving,” Brown said. “The police have raised some legitimate concerns about the cost that will be associated with training and detection tools for drug-impaired driving and I hope that’s part of the conversation.”

Del Duca says that penalties for driving while on drugs are consistent with drunk driving charges.

“For the first time we now have sanctions for drug-impaired driving that mirror the sanctions that exist for alcohol-impaired driving,” he said. “We also have to continue to send out a very strong, positive message to all individuals who get behind the wheel of a car or operate any vehicle that drug-impaired driving is not acceptable.”

He says the drunk driving advertising campaigns will have to be extended to include drugged drivers.

“For a generation, we’ve been driving home that message on alcohol-impaired driving. We continue to have work to do both on that score and with respect to drug-impaired driving.”