Police see ‘concerning trend’ in drug-impaired driving.
Police say the issue is prevalent in Thunder Bay.
The number of people who get behind the wheel while impaired by drugs is almost matching the number of alcohol-impaired drivers, according to city police.
Constable Tom Armstrong, with the police service’s traffic unit, said the number of drug-impaired drivers seen by police this year are showing a “concerning trend.”
“It’s a problem that’s very prevalent here in the city and something that we’re certainly not seeing go away,” he said.
So far in 2025, up to Feb. 7, city police have laid 28 drug-impaired driving charges.
Officers frequently encounter drivers who have consumed cannabis, said Armstrong.
“The one surprising thing is that we encounter regularly, that’s quite concerning now, is the number of drivers that consume cannabis,”
Armstrong added that drivers don’t seem educated on how much cannabis they’ve consumed and how it might impair their driving.
“It’s perhaps a little more difficult for people to determine the volume they’ve consumed or the timeline that can lapse, but it can be significant, and then the impairing effects of all these drugs, especially cannabis, on your ability to drive.
“That’s one thing that we see fairly often, and people just seem to have a bit of a lackadaisical approach to cannabis and driving, and it’s something that we’re certainly focusing on.”
During the 2024 Festive RIDE Program, police saw an almost 50-50 split for drug and alcohol-impaired charges; there were 83 drug-impaired drivers and 81 alcohol-impaired or refusal charges laid.
The constable noted there are historically three categories of drugs that are found in suspects’ systems during a drug-impaired arrest.
“The two main ones that really kind of jump out are the central nervous system stimulant, so that’s typically like cocaine and the other one is a narcotic analgesic. So that’s things like heroin and fentanyl.”
The third category is cannabis.
Even though there was a recent uptick in the number of novice drivers being charged with alcohol-impaired driving, Armstrong says there hasn’t been a similar trend observed when it comes to drug-impaired.
“Those effects (of taking drugs and driving) can be long-lasting both on your physical ability to operate a vehicle and also on the levels of cannabis in your blood,” Armstrong said.
“You need to be very, very cautious if you’re using obviously any sort of these controlled substances, but especially cannabis because it’s kind of prevalent in society now, and we’re seeing a lot of it.”
Armstrong said some of the increase in the number of drug-impaired arrests can be explained by increased police training.
警方認為藥後駕駛有「令人擔憂的趨勢」。
警方表示，這個問題在桑德貝很普遍。
據市警局稱，吸毒後開車的人數幾乎與酗酒司機的人數相當。
警察局交通部門的警官湯姆阿姆斯壯表示，今年警方發現的吸毒司機數量呈現出「令人擔憂的趨勢」。
他說：“這個問題在這座城市非常普遍，而且我們肯定不會看到它消失。”
2025 年到目前為止，截至 2 月 7 日，市警已提出 28 項藥後駕駛指控。
阿姆斯壯說，警察經常遇到吸食大麻的司機。
“令人驚訝的一件事是，我們經常遇到，現在非常令人擔憂的是，吸食大麻的司機數量，”
阿姆斯壯補充說，司機似乎沒有接受過有關他們消耗了多少大麻以及大麻如何影響他們駕駛的教育。
「對於人們來說，確定他們消耗的數量或可能失效的時間表可能有點困難，但它可能很重要，然後所有這些藥物，尤其是大麻，對你的駕駛能力的損害作用。
“這是我們經常看到的一件事，人們似乎對大麻和駕駛有一點懶散的態度，這肯定是我們關注的事情。”
在 2024 年節慶乘車計畫期間，警方發現毒品和酗酒指控的比例幾乎為 50 比 50；共有 83 名酒駕司機被指控，81 名司機因酒後駕駛或拒絕駕駛而受到指控。
這名警員指出，歷史上在因毒品導致的逮捕過程中，在嫌疑人的系統中發現了三類毒品。
「真正突出的兩種主要藥物是中樞神經系統興奮劑，通常類似於可卡因，另一種是麻醉性鎮痛劑。例如海洛因和芬太尼。”
第三類是大麻。
阿姆斯壯表示，儘管最近被指控酒後駕駛的新手司機數量有所增加，但在酒後駕駛方面並沒有觀察到類似的趨勢。
阿姆斯壯說：“這些（吸毒和駕駛）對你駕駛車輛的身體能力以及血液中大麻含量的影響可能是長期的。”
“如果你明顯使用任何類型的受管制物質，尤其是大麻，你需要非常非常謹慎，因為它現在在社會上很流行，而且我們看到了很多。”
阿姆斯壯表示，因吸毒而被捕的人數增加，部分原因是警察訓練的增加。
source tbnewswatch