Backgrounder: Strengthening Drug-Impaired Driving Investigations

While drug-impaired driving is already a Criminal Code offence that can result in severe penalties, the Government of Canada has now introduced legislation that will improve investigations of drug-impaired driving offences. Under the proposed reforms, police may demand physical tests and bodily fluid samples from suspected drivers through a proven method known as Drug Recognition Expert (DRE) testing. Refusal by the driver to comply with a demand would be a criminal offence.

Currently, DRE testing is used by police in Quebec, B.C. and Manitoba, but only when the driver voluntarily participates.

Recognizing the Seriousness of the Problem…

Drug users are disproportionately involved in fatal accidents. A study by the Société de l'assurance automobile du Québec determined that more than 30% of fatal accidents in the province involved drugs or a combination of drugs and alcohol.

A Traffic Injury Research Foundation poll in 2002 found that close to 20% of Canadian drivers had driven within two hours of taking a potentially impairing drug (be it over-the-counter, prescription or illegal). The Ontario Drug Use Survey in 2003 found that close to 20% of high school drivers in the province reported driving within one hour of using cannabis at least once in the preceding year.

Enforcing our Current Laws…

Driving while impaired by alcohol or a drug is currently a criminal offence that can result in severe penalties - the maximum penalty is life imprisonment when the offence causes the death of another person.

Under paragraph 253(a) of the Criminal Code, it is an offence for anyone to operate a motor vehicle, vessel, aircraft or railway equipment while his or her ability to operate it is impaired by alcohol or a drug. Currently, for section 253(a) drug-impaired driving investigations, officers usually rely upon symptoms of impairment and driving behaviour, as well as witness testimony.

Currently there is no authority in the Criminal Code for police to demand physical sobriety tests or bodily fluid samples for section 253(a) impaired driving investigations. However, if a driver voluntarily participates in physical sobriety tests, the evidence is admissible in court on a Criminal Code charge.

Unlike alcohol, for the vast majority of drugs there is no scientific consensus on the threshold drug concentration level in the body that causes impairment and makes driving hazardous. In fact, traces of some drugs, including marijuana, can remain in the body for days or weeks, which means that one cannot necessarily deduce recent use of the drug, let alone impairment of the ability to drive. Therefore, there is no "legal limit" offence for drugs as there is in section 253(b) of the Criminal Code for alcohol. Given current knowledge regarding "drug limits", technology to detect drug concentration at roadside is not an effective option.

Reforming our Current Laws…

The proposed reforms would improve investigations of Criminal Code drug-impaired driving offences by authorizing police to demand physical tests and bodily fluid samples from suspected drivers using DRE testing.

Refusal or failure to comply with any of the demands for physical sobriety tests or bodily fluid samples by police would be a criminal offence, punishable by the same Criminal Code penalty as refusing a demand for a breath test for alcohol. A minimum $600 fine would apply for a first offence. If the Crown chooses to prosecute by indictment (for more serious offences), the maximum penalty is five-years imprisonment. If a drug-impaired driving offence causes the death of another person, the maximum penalty is life imprisonment. Any provincial driving licence suspension would be up to each province.

Improving Investigations of All Forms of Drug-Impaired Driving…

The proposed legislation will enhance investigations of driving while impaired by any drug - over-the-counter, prescription or illegal - not just cannabis. The proposed reforms respond to the recommendation of the House of Commons Special Committee on the Non-Medical Use of Drugs (Bill C-38), which called for a strategy to address the issue of drug-impaired driving, following its review in the fall of 2003 of the Government's proposed cannabis reform legislation (now currently before Parliament as Bill C-10).

In September 2002, the Senate Special Committee on Illegal Drugs, which had examined Canada's cannabis policy, suggested that consideration be given to amending the Criminal Code to admit evidence from expert police officers trained in detecting persons operating vehicles under the influence of drugs.

The proposed reforms also respond to a recommendation from the House of Commons Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights in its 1999 report Towards Eliminating Impaired Driving, which recommended federal-provincial-territorial officials consider ways to improve Criminal Code provisions relating to drug-impaired driving investigations.

A consultation paper was used to obtain responses from several key stakeholders in the fall of 2003, which helped inform this proposed legislation.

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For further information:

Department of Justice Canada
Media Relations
(613) 957-4207

RCMP
Media Relations
(613) 993-2999

Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness Canada
Media Relations
(613) 991-0657