I was talking to a kid yesterday, asked the usual questions about how things were going etc, he said "way better than before", I asked about alcohol and he said he doesn't drink anymore because he got his licence and a car. "Good choice", I said.
I have a small office at this particular school and I though I detected a faint oder of exhaled marijuana smoke (kids have accused me of being a drug dog in a former life). I asked if he's been smoking weed, he said "a bit at lunch". I asked where, he said at his friend's place. I asked how he got back to school" I said "I drove"
After considerable discussion I hope he now understands that impaired is impaired.
I know that we have to do a lot better job of getting this message out.
According to CBC
Drug use by drivers is nearly as common as alcohol use, new Canadian research suggests. A study of more than 14,000 driver fatalities in the country from 2000 to 2006 by the Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse found 33 per cent of drivers tested positive for at least one drug and 38 per cent tested positive for alcohol. The most common drugs found in the blood of the drivers were: Depressants. Stimulants. Cannabis. Fatal crashes involving drugs tended to occur during daylight hours throughout the week while alcohol-related collisions tended to happen on weekends and late at night, the researchers found. A second study presented this week at the International Council on Alcohol, Drugs and Traffic Safety in Oslo analyzed early results of a roadside survey of 1,500 drivers who tested positive for drugs or alcohol in British Columbia in June. About 10 per cent of drivers tested positive for drug use and eight per cent tested positive for alcohol, Douglas Beirness, the group's senior research and policy analyst, found. Cannabis and cocaine were the most common drugs. Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/health/story/2010/08/26/drug-impaired-driving.html#ixzz17o9IZeE2
Talk to your kids, talk to your students, talk to your friends.
