There's plenty of speculation about our upcoming federal election, much of it frankly negative.
Politics is tough, especially when you weigh up the leaders and realize that finding someone who reflects all your values is almost impossible.
When the haranguing and arguing gets me down, I simply flip on a U.S. news channel, and take a good look at what our friends to the south are dealing with. It's like they're trying to elect a new village idiot, with a surfeit of contenders - by comparison, the Canadian election is a Care Bear Countdown.
Anyway, one of the policies that's been in the news of late is the Green Party's idea that marijuana should be legalized and taxed. Here in British Columbia, cannabis exists in a weird hemi-demi-semi de facto legal state already, with the number of pot dispensaries starting to rival the number of Starbucks. Judging from the spread of these places, approximately 97 per cent of the province has, like, glaucoma, man.
According to the Green Party, legalizing and taxing Snoop Dogg's favourite nightcap would inject some five billion dollars annually into the economy, and would also free up some revenue spent investigating and prosecuting the illegal trade in marijuana. There'd also be a theoretical decline in gang activity and the crimes associated with it - without the funds generated by illegal bootlegging, criminals would have to turn to other activities. Maybe they could smuggle Kinder Eggs into the U.S. or something. It all sounds like a panacea for a sticky-icky issue, a modern-day version of the repeal of prohibition. Marijuana has a number of benefits for pain-management, and with some kind of taxation structure and regulation, consumers would have some idea of what they're getting. I've never smoked reefer in my life (no, not even that time I suggested traffic safety could be improved if we all started ramming rude people in traffic). No further proof is needed than the fact that I just referred to marijuana as reefer.
I have, however, just watched part of Cheech and Chong's 1978 movie Up In Smoke, and am therefore fully qualified to weigh in on the issue. And what I want to know is, what do we do when people start getting high and driving?
Of course, this already happens, and it probably happens more than we'd like to know. According to the Internet - which contains facts, and only facts - THC affects users in multiple ways depending on their habitual usage and constitution.
If you're out for a night on the town at a bar, the rule of thumb is that you're going to have to at least sleep it off. If you've just been over at a friend's house in the afternoon, listening to Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon, you might figure a couple of hours downtime will clear your system and you're good to drive. It might be, and it might not be.
According to a recent survey in the U.S., most Americans feel that driving while stoned isn't a big deal, or at least it's a much less big deal than drunk driving. The evidence gets a big tricky to judge, but the gut feeling is mostly borne out by the results. Alcohol is a major factor in crashes, particularly fatal ones, whereas ingestion of cannabis seems to be such a small factor it's hard to draw a conclusion.
However, testing has proven that everything you need to be a good driver suffers when you're under the influence: cognitive function, motor control, tracking, and decision making. People get dumb when they're stoned, they make bad decisions, and they weave in their lane. It would appear that marijuana's high tends to slow you down, where drunk drivers take stupid risks, but you're still far from completely in control.
So, drive sober, which of course you would do anyway. However, while there are systems for the police to use in screening for alcohol intoxicated drivers, there's not a similarly quick test for marijuana in the system. There's no breathalyzer for pot.
This presents a problem for the officer on the scene. Even if a driver is suspected of being impaired, by the time they're back at the station, undergoing testing, the THC concentrations may be significantly lower. Just as with alcohol, a field-sobriety measure is needed. And one exists, sort of. A breathalyzer-like device in the research and development stage can detect recent smoking of marijuana (within one or two hours), and has shown some reasonable accuracy. While it's not much use several hours later, it's at least a tool in development.
Enforcement aside, driving behaviours will be more affected by the public's opinion on the issue, and information provided. We are still, after all, dealing with people who drive drunk and don't get caught. If people's attitudes towards marijuana use and driving remain lax, then even stepped-up enforcement won't help. Research is needed to show exactly how dangerous it is, and how users might consume the stuff and be safe by deferring driving for an appropriate level of time.
With several U.S. states effectively legalizing marijuana, it's possible for Canada's policy and law enforcement types to see how they've gone about solving the practical problems. And let's be honest, if marijuana was legalized tomorrow, we all might have a better understanding of why the Pontiac Aztek exists.
Brendan McAleer is a freelance writer and automotive enthusiast. If you have a suggestion for a column, or would be interested in having your car club featured, please contact him at [email protected]. Follow Brendan on Twitter: @brendan_mcaleer.
