44
Five years later, researchers say the impacts of legalizing cannabis in Canada have been mixed (www.ctvnews.ca)
submitted 2 years ago by to c/canada@lemmy.ca
41 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

Since Canada's legalization of cannabis five years ago, researchers say the policy has had mixed results in terms of public health and justice reform.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] 10 points 2 years ago (3 children)

We can control for less people on the road by looking at stats per-million km driven. And again, we're not seeing any meaningful movement.

And to the points around "maybe the true cases of people above the limit were EVEN HIGHER due to fear of testing around Covid" or "Maybe the actual THC content was EVEN HIGHER because of the time delay" they both actually drive to the same point:

If we're seeing way more people with THC in their system maybe more than we even know, and at levels of concentration higher than we can even test... Then why aren't we seeing significant increases in accidents or fatalities per million kms? We CLEARLY see these patterns w/ alcohol. Why not THC? Why the disconnect?

If anything, your arguments only make me think that THC levels that we're seeing are safer than previously understood w.r.t operating a motor vehicle.

Keep in mind, I'm not suggesting relaxing them. I'm just pointing out that the "skyrocketing" THC DUIs aren't materializing.

Or at least I'm not seeing them in the data in front of me

Also, full disclosure, I am not a smart man

If I'm missing a link or misreading something somewhere, let me know. I'm not married to my evaluation. I'm just trying to come to the same conclusion about safety as you and can't seem to independently get there.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 3 child comments
    •
  • [–] 2 points 2 years ago (2 children)

    You're asking good questions, and perhaps in time (and with more data), we can better account for what's going on.

    One thing to always keep in mind when you look at traffic incident stats is that certain things change over time.

    For example, additional measures to make roads safer, better technology in vehicles, more effective emergency medicine, and new laws are constantly been put in place to reduce accidents (and fatalities).

    Why do I mention this? Because we could very well have more DUI drivers on the road who may have THC levels high enough to be legitimately impaired, but these other factors are balancing out the risk of those impairments.

    This could explain why we're catching more DUI drivers, but seeing fewer DUI crashes or fatalities.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 2 child comments
    •
  • [–] 4 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    Or the simplest answer, thc doesn't impair your motor skills or judgement to nearly the same level alcohol does.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 1 child comment
    •
  • [–] 1 point 2 years ago

    Surely that depends on the dosage. I don't know how drunk/stoned people are when they decide they are sober enough to drive. It is possible that alcohol makes that self-assessment particularly poor, but I haven't seen any data yet. I'd love to learn more.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent