Coming To A Highway Near You

"Canadians consumed as much as $6.2 billion of marijuana in 2015, almost as much as they spent on wine, the federal statistics agency said Monday as it gears up to officially track weed when it becomes legal next year."
"The agency calculated the value by estimating 4.9 million people consumed 698 metric tons of cannabis that year, at an assumed price range of $7.14 to $8.84 a gram. It used government health and social surveys and outside research to create its model."
"Statistics Canada called its report 'Experimental Estimates of Cannabis Consumption in Canada, 1960 to 2015' and admitted there is 'currently no systematic process' for measuring usage. The agency warned its estimate for the market is very rough, and actual consumption could 'reasonably' be as low as half or as much as double."
Financial Post, December 18, 2017

Annual consumption of marijuana appears to be one-half to two-thirds the size of the $9.2 billion beer market, or almost as much as the $7 billion wine market.    Postmedia Network

"'The compositional change in the cannabis market [from a younger, teen and 20s cohort to seniors] is consistent with a change where the baby boomer cohort was exposed to cannabis in high school and university, and carried a preference for cannabis consumption with them as they aged', the report notes."
"The rising trend occurs as boomers, and the cohorts that followed after them with similar exposure and preferences, replaced the war generation, which had different preferences with respect to cannabis use."
Statistics Canada

"Driving while impaired by cannabis or other drugs is dangerous and illegal."
"The message is simple -- don't drive high."
Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale

"[Survey results] reinforce why we have invested in targeted public education and awareness efforts."
Health Minister Ginette Petitpas Taylor

"[The federal government's public awareness campaign] has been a failure. It barely got off the ground until the fall."
"What it [the survey results] could mean is that some  individuals who really aren't impaired are going to be caught and other people who are impaired are going to get away with drug impaired driving."
"When legalization comes into effect, more Canadians are going to be consuming marijuana and more Canadians are going to be on our roads driving impaired. This is a rushed and arbitrary timeline [July 1, 2018]."
Conservative justice critic MP Michael Cooper 

About 4.9 million Canadians consumed cannabis in 2015, according to a new research study released by Statistics Canada. (Justin Tang/Canadian Press)

This was an election campaign promise by Justin Trudeau, aspiring to become Prime Minister. Promises issued from this man like candy scattered at the feet of eager children. Many of the promises to entice Canadians to vote for this man were meant to reverse many of the initiatives and legislation passed by the previous, Conservative government and have failed to materialize. The campaign promise to legalize marijuana is on tap, however. Even if eager growers and distributors have been setting up shop in the public arena, flouting the law as it stands.

There have been police raids to close down illegal pot shops and arrest people working in them, and they simply pop up again, ready to resume business. The bad news for these entrepreneurs is that only specifically 'registered' sales outlets for pot will be recognized as legitimate, all others will be breaking the law. The headaches associated with keeping pot out of the hands of the young to prevent health complications to their growing brains is an issue that has not been adequately addressed, nor will it be.

And then there's the other sobering issue of public safety on the roads. Provinces are tasked by the federal government to do all the heavy lifting in surveillance and organization. Time-consuming and costly, the provinces' responsibilities will be rewarded with an agreed-upon three-quarters of the taxation revenues accruing from industry sales. In the meanwhile, scientists, the medical community  teachers and police have all expressed misgivings over the impending date of legalization, July first, 2018.

Health Canada has now released the results of a survey indicating that of the 9,215 people interviewed between the ages of 16 and up, 2,650 respondents stated cannabis had been used by them in the previous year, for medical or recreational purposes. Half of the respondents consuming cannabis had the opinion that marijuana use affects driving skills, according to the Canadian Cannabis Survey, compared to 75 percent with that opinion among non-cannabis users.

Among the cannabis users surveyed, 24 percent said it depends, and 19 percent stated there is no affect on driving, with cannabis use.

Moreover, 39 percent of those who had used marijuana in the last 12 months stated that within two hours of consuming cannabis they had driven at some point during that year, while 40 percent claimed to have driven in the previous 30 days after using cannabis, and 15 percent admitted using cannabis in combination with alcohol and they had afterward driven. A mere two percent reported having had any interaction with police related to driving under the influence.

People found to have two nanograms of THC [the principle psychoactive ingredient in cannabis] per millilitre of blood within two hours of driving, under Bill C-46, stand the risk of being fined up to $1,000 and those with over five nanograms could be sentenced to up to ten years' imprisonment. Critics of these parameters point out that no clear correlation exists between the amount of THC in the blood and the level of impairment, varying widely from individual to individual. Serving to further complicate an already complicated issue.

Statistics Canada estimates that Canadians may have consumed $6.2 billion worth of marijuana in 2015.  (Ryan Remiorz / THE CANADIAN PRESS file photo)