A video produced by the Alberta Motor Association for its new cannabis campaign shows a young woman sitting on a couch when her phone begins to vibrate.
The conversation goes like this:
“Hi… Seriously? No, no, I’ll come get you. Is that mom?” she asks.
Chuckling, she then says, “Yeah, Dad, we can get chicken nuggets. ‘Kay, I’ll see you in a few.”
As she leaves to pick up her presumably high parents, words appear on the screen: “More millennials have been designated drivers than any generation. When cannabis is legal, let’s follow their lead.”
That video, along with others, pictures, and even an interactive quiz, is all part of a new campaign by the Alberta Motor Association designed to clear the haze around cannabis use and driving.
“Only half of Canadians who use the drug believe it affects driving performance. In fact, many people think the drug improves a driver’s ability behind the wheel,” the AMA said in a statement.
“These persisting myths and misconceptions simply can’t go unchecked.”
The AMA launched the campaign Tuesday, in partnership with the NAIT Students’ Association and Alberta Students’ Executive Council.
“If you’re high, don’t get behind the wheel,” said Jeff Kasbrick, vice president of the AMA’s government and stakeholder relations. “Cannabis affects your reaction time, attention span, coordination and decision-making—virtually everything that’s required to drive. The facts are clear: driving high is driving impaired, and it’s just not worth the risk.”
In the National Cannabis Survey by Statistics Canada, approximately 1.4 million Canadians reported they had been a passenger in a vehicle driven by someone who had consumed cannabis in the last two hours.
One in seven users reported they had driven within two hours of using the drug in the last three months.
