Road Safety

Cannabis-impaired Driving

Cannabis can affect your ability to operate a vehicle safely. Knowing the facts, laws and prevention strategies can help keep our roads safe.

Effects of cannabis while driving.

The most common misconceptions out there are that cannabis doesn’t affect your driving ability or that it can actually make you a better driver. Cannabis is second only to alcohol as the drug most frequently found among drivers involved in crashes and drivers charged with impaired driving. It is also the drug most frequently mixed with alcohol usage in vehicle crashes.

Though the severity and length of these effects varies whether cannabis is inhaled, ingested or applied through topicals, the reality is that driving while under the influence of cannabis can affect your:

Coordination

Reaction Time

Ability to pay attention and judge distances

Decision-making ability

If you can’t drive your body, you can’t drive your car.

CAA National launched a new campaign highlighting how everyday tasks, like tying your shoes, grabbing a snack, or answering the door, can feel unexpectedly difficult after consuming cannabis edibles.

Video Transcript

Know what impaired driving is.

Interview with Sgt. Kerry Schmidt of the OPP and Teresa Di Felice

Video Transcript

What is the law?

In Ontario, it is illegal to operate any type of motor vehicle while under the influence of alcohol or drugs. Watch Sgt. Kerry Schmidt of the OPP and Teresa Di Felice of CAASCO discuss impaired driving laws and roadside testing for cannabis.

Penalties for impaired driving.

Penalties for driving under the influence of alcohol, drugs or a combination of, include a loss of licence, vehicle impoundment, monetary fines and many more once convicted.
There is a zero tolerance approach for alcohol and drugs for young, novice and commercial drivers.
As of January 1st, 2026, new penalties under Bill 197 have come into effect in Ontario. These penalties include increased roadside licence suspensions, mandatory education course for first time offenders, and a lifetime licence suspension for those convicted of impaired driving causing death.

Learn More

Plan a safe way home.

Many illegal and prescription drugs can impair a person’s capacity for driving by reducing the ability to divide attention and allocate concentration. It can also result in poor time and space management. Make sure you’re prepared with alternate ways to get home.

You have options: