Funding and research

The Government of Canada strengthened impaired driving laws to assist with the detection and investigation of alcohol and drug-impaired driving in 2018.

Stronger impaired driving provisions criminalize driving with prohibited levels of certain drugs in the blood, increase penalties and provide additional tools to law enforcement to detect and deter drug-impaired driving (DID). The goal is to reduce deaths and injuries on Canadian roads and keep communities safe.

The Government has invested $161 million to address DID and to help keep our roads and communities safe. Of this, $81 million is available to the provinces and territories to train law enforcement to detect impairment at the roadside, purchase and train law enforcement on the use of roadside drug screening devices, improve data collection and report on trends and patterns on DID, and deliver public awareness campaigns – all to help combat this crime.

In addition, this funding has allowed Public Safety Canada (PS) to support key laboratory studies on the impacts of smoked and edible cannabis on driving abilities.

National Data on Trends and Patterns in Drug-Impaired Driving

This annual report informs Canadians of activities taken to address drug-impaired driving across the country and their results. The data is primarily supplied by the provinces and territories, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) and other partner agencies and stakeholders.

• 2023: Annual National Data Report to Inform Trends and Patterns in Drug-Impaired Driving
• 2022: Annual National Data Report to Inform Trends and Patterns in Drug-Impaired Driving
• 2021: Annual National Data Report to Inform Trends and Patterns in Drug-Impaired Driving
• 2020: Annual National Data Report to Inform Trends and Patterns in Drug-Impaired Driving