Cannabis one year later

Its hard to believe that a year has come and gone so quickly. One year ago, on October 17^th the Canadian government legalized cannabis for recreation use. One of the statistics that leaped out at me was from Ontario regarding the estimated number of potentially “cannabis-impaired” drivers out on the road on any given day. One report suggested that 1.5 million drivers are under the influence of cannabis each and every day. I won’t debate whether someone claims they are not impaired after consuming cannabis as this is the same old story from drivers who drive after consuming alcohol.  However, concerns will rise dramatically come this December 17^th when edibles and topical products are permitted for sale increasing the number of people who will, at minimum try or begin to regularly consume cannabis without the need to smoke it.

Despite the police across Canada’s decades long best efforts to enforce impaired driving from alcohol, every week a new list of arrests are made, now throw in cannabis. And what of reliable means to test or measure a driver is impaired after consuming cannabis? There are also no widely accepted methods for detecting impairment as science has not caught up to a level that could provide a reliable means about how much cannabis can be consumed before it is unsafe to drive. One year later and these questions are still unanswered. How safe will you feel being on the road if in fact there are 1.5 million drivers that are cannabis-impaired?