Background
Method
Recruitment of participants
Data collection
Researcher Positionality
Thematic analysis
Mapping of themes
Results
Study sample
Demographic Variable | Youth n(%) | Young Adults n(%) | Total n(%) |
---|---|---|---|
Number of Focus Groups | 6 | 5 | 11 |
Number of Participants | 38 | 53 | 91 |
Education | |||
Grade 7-9 | 17 (44.7) | … | 17 (18.7) |
Grade 10-12 | 14 (36.8) | 3 (5.7) | 17 (18.7) |
Some Post-Secondary | 6 (15.8) | 26 (49.1) | 32 (35.2) |
College Diploma | 1 (2.6) | 7 (13.2) | 8 (8.8) |
Bachelor’s Degree | … | 14 (26.4) | 14 (15.4) |
Graduate Degree | … | 3 (5.7) | 3 (3.2) |
Geographic Location | |||
Small Rural (less than 5000) | 11 (28.9) | 6 (11.3) | 17 (18.7) |
Large Rural (5000 – 30,000) | 5 (13.2) | 15 (28.3) | 20 (22.0) |
Urban (30,000 plus) | 22 (57.9) | 32 (60.4) | 54 (59.3) |
Age | |||
13-15 | 20 (52.6) | … | 20 (22.0) |
16-18 | 18 (47.4) | … | 18 (19.8) |
19-21 | … | 29 (54.7) | 29 (31.9) |
22-25 | … | 24 (45.3) | 24 (26.3) |
Gender | |||
Boy or Man | 10 (26.3) | 15 (28.3) | 25 (27.5) |
Girl or Woman | 27 (71.1) | 37 (69.8) | 64 (70.3) |
Transgender | 1 (2.6) | … | 1 (1.1) |
Non-Binary | … | 1 (1.9) | 1 (1.1) |
Previous Cannabis Education | |||
Yes | 21 (55.3) | 35 (66.1) | 56 (61.5) |
No | 11 (28.9) | 14 (26.4) | 25 (27.5) |
Unsure | 6 (15.8) | 4 (7.5) | 10 (11.0) |
Cannabis Consumption | |||
Regular Consumptiona | 7 (18.4) | 20 (37.7) | 27 (29.7) |
Consumption in Past 3 Months | 3 (7.9) | 8 (15.1) | 11 (12.1) |
Consumption in Past Year | … | 10 (18.9) | 10 (11.0) |
Never Consumed | 27 (71.1) | 13 (24.5) | 40 (43.9) |
Prefer Not to Say | 1 (2.6) | 2 (3.8) | 3 (3.3) |
Thematic analysis
Theme 1: normalization of DUIC
People aren’t hiding the fact that they’re using marijuana as much where it’s legal. And you’ve definitely seen a lot more people out on the roads … you smell it a lot more, and it’s not just in the shady parking lot or somewhere like a backroad on the way to the cabin. (Urban Girl Non-Consumer 60).
if you drive drunk, you’re an ass, like no one will disagree with that. But if you smoke, if you smoke and drive like it’s so normalized, everyone does it. People you like do it. Your friends are doing it. (Urban Girl Non-Consumer 25).
I find girls are more prepared when they’re about to smoke, like they have a ride home and they know where they’re going to do it and they know who they’re doing it with and they know where they got it from. Boys usually take their car and they go drive... Then, they smoke and drive somewhere else, pick up their friends, they smoke again and then go home. So I think that they don’t really think about, like the dangers of it. (Urban Girl Non-Consumer 25).
if there’s nothing to be at, people just kind of drive around and then it’s like maybe if you’re with someone and they’re smoking and then it’s kind of, oh, I’ll just have one puff or just a few and then it kind of spirals that way. (Rural Woman Consumer 66).
I feel like people don’t think much about it, like I would say … if I were to tell my friends that I wasn’t comfortable driving under the influence of cannabis, they would think I was just being, like, soft or something. They don’t think it’s a big deal at all in my school. (Urban Girl Non-Consumer 25).
It’s so easy just to be pressured to get in the car in the moment, because if not … you’ll have to walk home. And honestly, at this point, I don’t even know if it’s safer to walk home in the community. (Rural Woman Consumer 62).
Theme 2: knowledge and awareness
we have organizations like MADD that show that the really graphic emotional videos of drunk driving, we don’t really have that for cannabis. So, the government [is] … just trying to piggyback off the drunk driving campaign saying the same thing about cannabis. But the information isn’t really out there, at least as graphic and in a way that you remember it as some of the drunk driving campaigns are. (Rural Woman Consumer 36).
whatever we learn about smoking weed in school, they always say that smoking is safer than drinking alcohol, which is true to an extent. You can get sick from alcohol a lot easier than you can from smoking. You know, there’s a lot more health things that you can get from smoking, from drinking alcohol compared to smoking weed. So, I think that’s the reason why some people have perceived that driving under the influence of cannabis is not bad because we’ve always been taught that, you know, it’s not as bad as drinking alcohol. (Urban Girl Consumer 99).
Theme 3: perception of risk
I think [people] think that weed or marijuana slows them down. So, they’re going to be more careful where alcohol kind of makes you more impulsive and not as careful. I think that might be the perception that some people have and why they make the conscious decision to drive under the influence of weed. (Rural Woman Consumer 62).
I think the people that are smoking and driving are people that have been smoking for a while and can know they’re high. Like, you kind of know how to handle it … I think that someone’s first or second time smoking and they don’t really know … and then for them to go and sit behind the wheel and like drive, I think they’d kind of be more on edge than someone you know who kind of smokes every day and […] that they will have enough consciousness to be able to stay safe on the road. (Rural Girl Consumer 22).
I hear a lot of people justify it being like, well, I smoked every day since I was like 10 or 12, so it’s I’m used to it. I drive better. Maybe it’s like a tolerance thing. People used to justify it... I don’t think you actually can build a tolerance that much to something that it’s safe to do still. But that’s what I hear a lot of people sort of backing up the reason for it. (Urban Woman Consumer 37).
Theme 4: mode of transportation
He actually got ran over on his bike by someone on an ATV who was high. And they had their head down and they completely ran over him and ran him into a ditch because they were high, and they didn’t notice. So, I feel like people driving high on ATVs and dirt bikes, etc., is something I’ve definitely noticed more than people driving behind the wheel of a car. (Urban Girl Consumer 99).
if they’re camping, they could take it over to someone else’s campsite or like that or like to a cabin … I think that more people would not hesitate and then they also might think, well, there’s no one else like on the road or on the trail. So, like, I’m not going to hurt anybody else, it’ll just be me, but you could run into someone else, and you could hurt yourself very easily. (Urban Woman Non-Consumer 69).
When alcohol is all we really consumed regularly … skidooing and drinking was very, very common. Now that weed is so much more accessible, it seems like it’s pretty much exactly the same. And if you’re out to a cabin party or something like that and snowmobiling or you’re on an ATV and it’s not even a big deal, it doesn’t seem like [people] even think twice about getting behind the wheel. (Rural Woman Consumer 36).
I grew up in [a rural community] and just the fact that there’s this notion that everything’s so close together. So, I mean, if you’re at a party and someone’s drinking, they’re like, oh, I’ll bring you home. It’s only going to be like two minutes. People, I think, would get in the vehicle and just take that risk. And that’s why there’s been so many incidents of people dying from people under the influence in the small town because people just don’t really see it as they kind of see like everything’s close together. (Rural Woman Consumer 62).
Theme 5: detection
Mapping of road safety themes on the multi-level and systems model of driving behaviour
Multi-Level & Systems Model of Driving Behaviour [32] | DUIC and Road Safety Findings from Current Study | |
---|---|---|
Antecedents | Individual Characteristics | • Those without a driver’s license were more likely to DUIC using off-road vehicles. • Boys and men were identified to be take on more risky behaviours with cannabis • Perception that frequent cannabis consumers are more tolerant to impairment with greater awareness to compensate for deficits in driving ability. |
Passengers | • Detection by peers is difficult without explicit observation of prior consumption or disclosure by driver • Passengers consume on their own or with the driver • Driver can be exposed to second-hand smoke from passengers • There is peer pressure to accept a ride with a cannabis-impaired driver • Element of trust in their peers or designated drivers. | |
Vehicle Characteristics | • Permission to consume cannabis in vehicles is dependent on the rules of the drivers • DUIC was reported as more common with off-road vehicles than on-road vehicles (e.g., ATVs, boats, snowmobiles) • Off-road vehicles are convenient to drive in remote area with lower age requirements for operation • Perception that off-road vehicle pose less risk for harm than on-road vehicles (e.g., less travelled trails or sole operation of a vehicle without passengers). | |
Choice Points | Public Policy | • Lack of evidence for harms associated with cannabis and driving • Lived experience contradicts claims of danger |
Enforcement of Federal & Provincial Laws | • Detection is challenging as cannabis products resemble tobacco products or do not always produce a detectable odour (e.g. edibles). • Detection by law enforcement professionals as impairment expressed as easier to hide with non-odour edibles or present themselves in an incongruent manner for DUIC. • Minimal report of accidents related to cannabis-impairment. • Frequency of police patrolling varies by geographic location (e.g., weekly patrols or less frequent enforcement in rural settings) • Less common experience of impaired driving checks for off-road vehicles than on-road vehicles. | |
Educational Community Intervention | • Knowledge and awareness of risks for cannabis versus alcohol • Lack of discussion about cannabis-impairment • DUIC is perceived as safer than driving after alcohol consumption • Perception that cannabis consumption leads to enhanced driving performance. | |
Consequences | Driving Behaviour | • Normalization of DUIC • Social acceptability to DUIC • Peer pressure to drive after consuming cannabis or drive with an impaired driver • Driving and cannabis consumption is a social activity • Passenger with a cannabis-impaired driver • Compensatory driving behaviours (e.g., driving shorter versus longer distances) |
Outcomes (Injury, Death, Costs) | • Harm to oneself with sole operation of a motorized vehicle • Harm to others as passengers in the vehicle, other drivers on the road, or community members sharing the road (e.g., pedestrians) • Negative impact on caregiver relationship (e.g., upsetting a caregiver when requesting late night support) • Threat to social status among peers with refusal to DUIC or accept a ride from a peer who has previously consumed. • Monetary costs incurred to receive transportation from a taxi. |