Cannabis in cars

Cannabis can be legally consumed by adults in Canada as of Wednesday, but there is still considerable confusion about what the laws say about cannabis in cars.

So far this year Hamilton police have laid 38 charges for drug impaired driving, compared to 14 last year at this time.

Constable Claus Wagner trains other officers on how to identify impaired drivers.

“The droopy eyes, the slow speech, those are things we’ve been looking for my whole 30 years as a police officer.”

Premier Doug Ford is calling on the Federal government to make roadside drug screening devices available but Wagner says those instruments only detect the presence of a drug, they don’t prove that someone is impaired.

“We can only use it for G1, G2, under 22 or commercial drivers, because they have to have zero. That’s where we would use that instrument.”

New Canadian laws do restrict the allowable amounts of cannabis in a drivers’ system but it’s a difficult metric to prove and requires a qualified technician to draw blood within two hours of the roadside stop.

Canadians are now allowed to grow up to four cannabis plants and can keep all that harvest at home but out in public you can only carry 30 grams, about a sandwich bag full.

“right now it can’t be accessible to anybody in the car. Your best thing, like alcohol, put it in the trunk.”

Wagner says police officers are cautiously adapting to the new rules.