DIDSBURY-CARSTAIRS - With recreational cannabis becoming legal across Canada on Oct. 17, police are ready for anyone who may be driving while high.
Cpl. Chris Warren, RCMP K Division, media relations, said police in Alberta aren't going to be making too many changes to how they conduct their business in looking for impaired drivers and taking them off the road.
"With respect to cannabis legalization and the Alberta RCMP, there hasn't been a whole lot changed," said Warren. "The main focus is, obviously, on being impaired whether by alcohol or a drug including cannabis. All those things with respect to impaired operation of a motor vehicle, those have not changed. Just like last week, impaired driving by drug was an offence, it still remains an offence."
Warren did say that with legalization, RCMP officers may have a heightened sense of awareness around vehicle stops.
"With regards to driving while impaired by drugs, there are several steps in the process," he said. "It's similar to driving while impaired by alcohol, including a reasonable suspicion that someone has drugs in their system and has operated a motor vehicle. They can be subjected to the standard field sobriety test (SFST)."
The SFST is a series of roadside tests performed by a trained investigator to look for coordination and any other signs of impairment, said Warren.
"If that test is failed at the roadside, similar to failing a roadside screening device for alcohol, that person would then be brought back to the detachment where they would be met by a DRE (drug recognition expert), who would perform more tests accepted by the courts that would give them reasonable and probable grounds to believe that person had been operating a motor vehicle while impaired by drugs and they would be charged accordingly."
Warren said that RCMP in Alberta will not be using any roadside saliva or other screening device for drugs at this time.
"Just as we've done in the past, we're relying on our standard field sobriety tests and drug recognition experts," he said. "This training and these procedures have been in effect for years. Nothing has changed in that regard. These are practices we've had for years. They remain in place to detect impaired driving by drugs."
Warren said as far as consumption or possession of cannabis in public, police will continue to enforce the laws that are in place.
"An offence is an offence whether it's a bylaw or at the federal level," he said. "If the grounds are there to lay a charge or a complaint from the public, or reasonable grounds exist to lay a charge, we'll absolutely do that. As far as the day to day goes, it's business as usual for the RCMP. Following up on concerns and complaints from the citizens just like we have in the last few weeks."
Cannabis is legal in Alberta, however:
- Only if you're 18 or over.
- It is only available from licensed stores or online through albertacannabis.org.
- Thirty grams is the most you can buy or carry at a time.
- Only four plants can be grown per household.
- It can't be within reach of anyone in a vehicle.
