With the Liberal government’s legalization efforts slowly underway, there are some people and groups who are expressing their concerns. One of those groups is MADD Canada, which has recently commissioned a paper looking at the accuracy and availability of roadside saliva testing.
The current CEO, Andrew Murie, says that even though the testing system right now is exhaustive, legalization will make things worse. “The beauty of saliva is it doesn’t pick up any presence of metabolites. It picks up current use within the last couple of hours.”
Murie also added, “We’ve accepted that the Prime Minister and the government is going to legalize. We’re kind of saying ‘that’s fine’ but you need to do this first before any consideration of legalization is done.”
Another group that is fighting for more safety measures on the roads is the Ontario Safety League (OSL). Here is what Brian J. Patterson, CEO of OSL recently had to say on the issue, “I can assure you there will be many who will show little or no concern at all for protecting those on our roads. OSL will go all out in finding ways to educate and counter these individuals. A person under the influence of cannabis and at the wheel is hazardous to himself or herself and to the general public. Druving under the influence must not be allowed, for every life in Ontario is valuable. ”
Even though the effects from cannabis are extremely distinct from those of alcohol, the OSL and others clearly want these two treated the same when it comes to law enforcement’s methods of dealing with impaired drivers. It remains to be seen how much influence these groups will have on how the laws are shaped in regards to impaired driving.