Drug-impaired driving rates have more than doubled since Parliament legalized cannabis, according to a report from the Department of Justice.
Released in June 2022, the report noted that the average rate of drug-impaired driving offences in Canada increased by 105 percent from 2017 to 2020—from nine to 19 offences per 10,000 population.
The report noted legalization was accompanied by Bill C-46, An Act To Amend The Criminal Code, which allowed police to conduct random roadside drug testing, saying that may have contributed to the rise in charges.
“Due to the new legislation, police have additional means available to them to detect drug-impaired driving, which may in part explain this increase,” said the study, titled “Cannabis Crime Statistics in Canada, 2020,” as first reported by Blacklock’s Reporter….