British Columbia may be famous as the home of “B.C. bud,” but new data from Statistics Canada suggests the people who live in the province may be less likely to toke up and get behind the wheel than their fellow Canadians.
According to StatsCan, more than 14 per cent of Canadians admitted they’d driven a vehicle with within two hours of consuming cannabis.
In B.C. — the only province to deviate significantly from the national average — that number was eight per cent.
WATCH: Legal marijuana driving rules
According to Statistics Canada senior analyst Michelle Rotermann, that’s despite British Columbians reporting slightly higher cannabis using habits as other Canadians.
“About 17 per cent of the population in British Columbia aged 15 and older reported having consumed cannabis in the last three months,” she told Global News.
READ MORE: Will roadside drug screening work? What another industry says about the tests
Nationally, that number was 15.6 per cent.
Rotermann said B.C.’s lower tally on high drivers could be due to several factors, including the number of licensed drivers in B.C. or the number of people making smarter choices.
“It’s restricted to individuals who have a valid driver’s license and who were current users,” she said.
“But of course there are other things that may be going on at the provincial level that has contributed, in this case, to lower prevalence of driving.”
When it came to riding with high drivers, B.C. residents were closer to the national average.
About 3.7 per cent of people in B.C. reported getting in a car with a driver who had consumed cannabis within two hours. Nationally, 5.1 per cent of people said they had done the same thing.
Cannabis is scheduled to become legal for recreational use in Canada on Oct. 17.
Comments