Forget about toking and driving.
The territorial government has unveiled new legislation that will introduce zero tolerance rules for young drivers impaired by drugs.
Under the NWT cannabis bill tabled Feb. 28, drivers below the age of 22, as well as those with a learner's or probationary license who test positive for even trace amounts of drugs or alcohol would have their licenses suspended for an unspecified period of time.
Currently, the legal blood alcohol limit in NWT for a fully-licensed driver is 0.05, or 50 milligrams of alcohol per 100 millilitres of blood.
Drivers caught with a blood alcohol concentration between 0.05 and 0.08 can have their license suspended for up to 30 days. Driving with a blood alcohol concentration over 0.08 could result in criminal charges.
In a document explaining the proposed cannabis bill, the government of Northwest Territories states the idea that driving while high is less dangerous than driving under the influence of alcohol is “simply not true.”
Police have long used breathalyzer tests to detect alcohol and are developing new roadside tests to detect marijuana, recent studies show.
A 2016 study in the Canadian Society of Forensic Sciences Journal found oral fluid drug screening devices to be reliable for detecting drugs used within “the previous few hours.”
However, a subsequent Public Safety Canada report noted that the presence of a drug in saliva “does not imply impairment.”
Revenues from cannabis sale could reach $1 million
Minister of Justice Louis Sebert said Thursday the government does not yet know how much it will cost to set up and regulate a legal weed market in the territory.
Nor could he say how much it would cost to put up signs warning about the potential harms of cannabis in stores where the substance is sold.
Sebert said revenues from cannabis are expected to be under a $1 million.
“The whole point is to keep the price low so that we can eliminate the illegal market,” he said.
“This isn't going to be a big money grab for the government.”
The government plans to tax marijuana at a rate of one dollar per gram, with 75 per cent of the revenues going to the territory and the rest going to Ottawa.
Money collected through taxes on cannabis sales will go primarily toward drug-related education campaigns and health programs, said Sebert.
The Liquor Commission will source the territory's pot and determine the retail price, he continued.
MLA for Kam Lake Kieron Testart chided the government Thursday for not knowing what regulating cannabis will cost.
“Everyone has known for two years now that legal cannabis was going to be the new Canadian reality, and to not have a plan for that has been a consistent failing of this government,” he said.
The government plans to sell cannabis in liquor stores, even though the federal task force on cannabis legalization and regulation strongly discouraged this.
The task force did acknowledged that setting up separate cannabis outlets in small and remote communities may not be possible.
To curb the consumption of cannabis and alcohol, the government is proposing to keep cannabis products behind the cash register, similar to how cigarettes are stocked in other stores.
Customers in communities with no liquor stores would have to order cannabis from an NWT liquor store and have it shipped to them.
Other jurisdictions, such as British Columbia and Alberta, will allow recreational users to buy marijuana from private retailers.
The NWT's proposed pot law leaves the door open to cannabis-only stores in the future, but Testart doesn't see a reason to keep the private sector waiting.
“If the south embraces this model and the north is still lagging behind, the south is going pick up production, they're going to pick up the retail side, and it's going to squeeze northerners out of the market,” he said.
“We need to ensure northerners have a level playing field and we need legislation that speaks to that,” he continued.
The federal government is expected to legalize cannabis this summer and the GNWT says its committed to passing its own pot law by this summer.
Individual communities will be able to hold a plebiscite if they wish to restrict or ban cannabis outright.