Don't drive while high, Canadians urged in new MADD, Tweed, Uber campaign

Canadians are being urged not to drive while high in anew national public awareness campaign being launchedone week before legalization.

MADD Canada, Tweedand UberCanada joined forces to announcethe campaign in Toronto on Wednesday. The campaign, which officially starts on Thursday,offers 101 things to do instead ofdriving while high.

Representatives from MADDCanada, anadvocacy group, Tweed, acannabis company,and UberCanada, aride-hailingcompany, told reporters that Canadians are well aware that it's not socially acceptable to drive while impaired by alcohol, but they need to be made more aware of the risksof driving while impaired by marijuana.

The new campaign will help to fill that gap in awareness, they said.

"To bring it back to a single message that I hope you will take awaywhat I've said, we are the biggest cannabis company in the world, we're the best-known cannabis brand, working with respected partners, and we're asking you: 'please, do notdrive high,'" said Mark Zekulin, president and CEO of Tweed.

"Play it safe, find another way to get where you're going, or do one of the other101 better things until you're sober."

The 101 things to do are listed ata website, DontDriveHigh.ca, whichis launching on Thursday. Theyinclude such things aseat a cookie, shine your shoes, call your grandparents, pop some bubble wrapand appreciate some art.

MADDCanada national president Patricia Hynes-Coatessaid the campaign uses humour to conveya very serious message thatCanadians should not get behind the wheel when impaired by marijuana.Hynes-Coateslost her stepson,Nicholas Coates, to an impaired driverin 2013.

"It draws people in with 101 fun things to do instead of driving high. Andthen it reinforces the risks of driving and encourages people to choose a sober ride home," she said.

She said the campaign iscreative, fun and engaging, provides all sorts of alternatives to driving while high and underlines the fact that impaired drivingputs drivers, passengers and other road users at risk.

"Legalization is just days away. Together we are ramping up the awareness and education efforts around cannabis and driving," she said.

"It's really important that people realize that impaired crashes do not have to happen, whether it is by alcohol or drugs. It's really important that we get the message out to everyone that driving impaired is never, ever worth the risk."

According to the three representatives, the campaignwill be "across all media channels," appearing in radio, TV, print andonline. It runs through the Christmas period and will be ongoing after that.

Canadians need to make 'smart decisions'

Adam Blinick, public policy director for Uber Canada, noted that Statistics Canada, which collected cannabis data from May to June, found that one in seven cannabis users with a driver's licence said they haddriven a vehicle at least once within two hours of using the drug in the past three months. Men were nearly two times more likely than women to report this behaviour.

"There's just a huge gap of knowledge in this area and more that needs to be done to convey the message of how important it is to not drive high," Blinick said.

Canadians need to make "smart decisions" to protect themselves, their loved ones and other people on the roads, he said.

For their part, Tweed and Uberwill offer 40,000 promo codes for up to $5 off an Ubertrip in markets where Uber operates in Canada, except in Quebec. The codes will be available through theDontDriveHigh.ca website.

MADD Canada is acharitable organization committed to stopping impaired driving and supporting victims. It has volunteer groups in more than 100 Canadian communities.