A Report on the Incidence of Drugs and Driving in Canada

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Abstract
A drugs and driving database, maintained by the Canadian Society of Forensic Science, includes cases from across Canada in which drug testing occurred. The database reported here includes 492 cases which occurred over a period of about 3½ years and comprises of a majority of fatalities and related driving accidents, and all the drug impaired driving cases. From this limited sample, certain trends are indicated. The most common drugs (or groups) are tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), benzodiazepines (mainly diazepam), narcotics (mainly codeine), cocaine and barbiturates. Alcohol was also present in many of these cases. In the drug involved cases, it was most common to encounter a single drug—alone or in combination with alcohol. In impaired driving cases, other than alcohol, the drug substances found were THC, diazepam, codeine and cocaine.

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