B.C. health minister worried about prevalence of 'drugged driving'

A jointUniversity of Victoria/Vancouver Island Health Authority study found 35 per cent of 18 to 23-year-oldsadmitted to driving after consuming marijuana or were a passenger in a vehicle with a driver who had consumed pot.

The studytracked 662 young people between the ages of 12 and18 from the Victoria areaover the course of adecade.

"It is critically important that we think about drugged driving. I know from conferences I have attended that often people are drinking and consuming cannabis together," said B.C. Health Minister Terry Lake. "That means if they were to getbehindthe wheel of a car, they could putthemselvesandothers atgreatrisk."

"Ithinkas a society we should really be getting our heads around thatand devise ways and means of reducing the number of people who are doing that."

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No marijuana test available

The federal government task force onthe legalization of marijuana is looking at policies on drug use and driving before pot is legalized in Canada.

"I think the challenge with cannabis is we really don't have a saliva test or ablood test that maps your impairment as well as the blood alcohol or breathalyzer does," said Dr. Perry Kendall, B.C.'s chief medical health officer and a member of the federal marijuana legalization task force.

"But if we can make driving while impaired from any cause as socially unacceptable as driving under the influence of alcohol, we would be doing well."

Complicated explanation for drugged driving

Dr. Richard Stanwick,Island Health's chief medical health officer, worked on the study and foundmany young people had complicatedreasons for driving highbut stress seemed to be a big factor.

"I think it is stress.It is a reflection of how do you cope. Six per cent of them are now using sleeping pills to sleep because most of them are working two jobs to put money on the table," said Stanwick.

"They would consider themselves more stressed than their parents. Just looking at the wages they are able to generate, the average is just above the living wage."