Legal pot? That's new. Risks to your health and safety? Not at all

The legalization of recreational marijuana is a major policy shift for the countrybut it doesn't represent a significant change in policing impaired driving for the RCMP.

"This isn't a new policing issue. We've been dealing with drug-impaired driving for many, many years," Supt. Holly Turtontold CBCRadio's St. John's Morning Showon Wednesday, the first day of marijuana's legalization.

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Discussions between the RCMP and jurisdictions outside Canada where recreational cannabis has been legalized, such as Colorado, flaggedconcerns for police about a post-legalization increase in impaired-driving and collision rates, she said.

In an attempt tomitigate that, theRCMP is tryingto get the message out to the public about avoiding impaired driving.

"Obviously, we're apprehensive about that, so we've worked really quite diligently to try and inform the public, in terms of social media campaigns and some of these appearances, to talk about the dangers of driving while impaired," Turton said.

Old tools, and new

Some of the tools police use to spot cannabis-impaired drivers are the same ones Turton has relied on throughout her career.

She and other officers usethe standardized field sobriety-testing skills that have been in place for decades, and more officers are being trained in drug recognition evaluation.

Sometimes behaviour gives us a pretty good indication that things aren't quite as they should be.- Holly Turton

A lot of it comes down to observation and instinct, she said.

"What we find with cannabis in particular is that people's reactions times are delayed, their judgment is delayed," Turton said.

"Sometimes behaviour gives us a pretty good indication that things aren't quite as they should be."

A new oral fluid testing device has been approved as well, Turton said, and some officers are being trained on that as well. It's likely not the last training they'll need to do for impaired driving, she said.

"The technology is changing so quickly that there's going to be other devices available to us," she said.

Consequences of impaired driving

Ultimately, Turton said, impaired drivingis not a new problem.

She said it's too soon to knowif cannabis legalization will create more work for police or how much public behaviour will change.

"We don't know until we actually experience it," she said.

What hasn't changed are the potential consequences of impaired driving, whether cannabis is legal or not, she said.

"When you get behind the wheel, whether you're high or you're drunk, you're needlessly putting everybody at risk, not just yourself."

In addition to the danger of driving while impaired whether by alcohol, cannabis or another intoxicant it comes with legal penalties including criminal charges similar to those for alcohol impaired driving, up to and including jail time.

Questions about workplace issues

Some things have changed with legalization, says Jack Penashue, executive director of the Charles J. Andrew You Treatment Centre in North West River in Labrador.

Penashuehas workedin addictions and mental health care for years and struggled with his own addictions earlier in life. He's concerned about what the legalization of cannabis means for addictions workers like him, and in workplaces more widely.

It's going to be very challenging, Ithink.- Jack Penashue

"It's going to be very challenging, Ithink," he told Labrador Morning on Wednesday.

People use marijuana for a variety of reasons, he said, including recreational and medicinal. As an addictions worker, he wonders what happens if someone comes to a treatment centre like his for a drug or alcohol addiction, but wants to continue to use cannabis because they say it's helpful for them.

So far, Penashue said, he hasn't been able to get a clear answer on how such a situation should be handled.

Important to talk to children: Penashue

There are workplace issues that must be considered even beyond those for centres like the one he works at, Penashue said.

For example, there are zero-tolerance policies in place for alcohol and drugs at the Muskrat Falls and Voisey's Bay work sites, he said. However, monitoring use may prove difficult.

Penashue has questions about theuse of cannabis in homes as well, and said it's important to talk honestly with children about cannabis and its legalization.

But in his own home, cannabis will not be welcome just as alcohol and other drugs also are not.

"I have an addiction and that's the kind of thing that Itry to instil the idea that a drug is a drug, alcohol is alcohol," he said.

"However you cut it, it's still the same thing."

Physicians encourage cannabis questions

TheNewfoundland and Labrador Medical Association also pointed out on Wednesday that just because cannabis is legal, that doesn't mean it's safe.

"There are many misconceptions about cannabis for example, that it isn't addictive or that it isn't harmful because it comes from a plant," said association president Dr. Tracey Bridger in a press release.

Some people may have been reluctant to talk to their doctor about their cannabis use when it was an illegal drug.- Tracey Bridger

"We want people to understand the health risks associated with cannabis use so they can make informed decisions now that it is available to consumers."

With cannabis now legal, the association has launched a new public awareness campaign aimed at encouragingpeople in the province to discuss marijuana and their own use with their health-care providers.

Despite the stigma that may remain about cannabis use even post-legalization, physicians in the province want patients to speak to them about cannabis use and ask any questions they may have, the association said.

"We know that some people may have been reluctant to talk to their doctor about their cannabis use when it was an illegal drug," Bridger said in the release."We want patients to know that doctors are here to listen to patients' concerns about how using any substance might affect their health."

With files from The St. John's Morning Show

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