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.
