FREDERICTON — A six-year analysis of more than 10,000 Canadian drivers involved in motor vehicle collisions suggests cannabis has edged out alcohol as the most common impairing substance detected through after-crash blood testing. The National Drug Driving Study 2024, produced by the University of British Columbia, says researchers analyzed blood samples from drivers in British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Ontario, Quebec, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Newfoundland and Labrador between 2018 and 2023. They found 54 per cent of these injured drivers tested positive for at least one impairing substance, and among that group 16.
6 per cent had cannabis in their blood stream while 16 per cent had alcohol. "Driving after cannabis use appears to be an emerging problem in Canada and may now be more common than driving after drinking alcohol," the study says. "However, given the very high crash risk associated with alcohol, and the fact that most 'cannabis positive' drivers had low THC (the active substance in cannabis) levels, it can be concluded that driving after drinking remains a bigger problem in Canada.
" The study also found that Atlantic Canada led the country in the proportion of injured drivers more likely to have used weed. Of the 624 injured drivers from Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Newfoundland and Labrador who were tested during the study period, 26 per cent of drivers tested positive for cannabis while 22 per cent tested positive for alcohol. Overall, 70 per cen.
