More people are driving high, Timmins police warn
With 2022 coming to a close, Timmins police are taking a look at its impaired driving statistics for the year and say more and more people are being charged with driving while high.
Over the last four years, impaired driving charges have gone up with 2021 being one of the worst, when 68 people were charged. So far this year, that number sits at 58 people with a few weeks still to go.
With the legalization of cannabis, police are encountering a significant number of people who've consumed pot and got behind the wheel.
They're also getting a lot more calls from people who find drivers passed out in their vehicles after taking opiates.
“Almost half the situations where we arrest and charge somebody with impaired driving is due to the consumption of a substance other than alcohol,” said police spokesperson Marc Depatie.
“So in a good number of those cases, the person is under the influence of alcohol and (another) substance.”
Const. Chris Gauthier said the other substance is often an opioid.
“It’s not just cannabis,” Gauthier said.
“There’s methamphetamines, there’s opiates, there’s also prescribed medications that people aren’t aware of that it does affect your ability to operate a vehicle.”
Officials said impaired driving is the leading cause of death in Canada among men between the ages of 18 and 24.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
'I just can't believe that it took so long': Body found in wreckage 3 months after deadly fire
A man accused of arson in a January Old Strathcona apartment fire is expected to be charged with manslaughter after a body was discovered in the burned building late last month.
No proof man lied to brother about number of kittens born in litter, B.C. tribunal rules
A man was denied a $5,000 payout from his brother after a B.C. tribunal dismissed his claim disputing how many kittens were born in a litter.
Quebec police hand out hundreds of tickets to Hells Angels and other bikers before 'first run' meeting
Quebec provincial police handed out hundreds of fines to Hells Angels members and other supporting motorcycle clubs who met for their 'first run' in a small town near Sherbrooke, Que.
Feds hope to table foreign interference legislation next week: LeBlanc
Democratic Institutions Minister Dominic LeBlanc says he plans to table legislation this week to help the federal government address foreign interference, but he wouldn't say whether the proposal will include a foreign agent registry.
Auston Matthews skates ahead of Game 7, status unclear with season on the line
Auston Matthews was back on the ice with his teammates Saturday.
Snakes almost on a plane: U.S. TSA discovers a bag with small snakes in passenger's pants
According to an X post by the Transportation Security Administration, officers at the Miami International Airport found the small bag of snakes hidden in a passenger's trousers on April 26 at a checkpoint.
A Chinese driver is praised for helping reduce casualties in a highway collapse that killed 48
A Chinese truck driver was praised in local media Saturday for parking his vehicle across a highway and preventing more cars from tumbling down a slope after a section of the road in the country's mountainous south collapsed and killed at least 48 people.
Russia puts Ukrainian President Zelenskyy on its wanted list
Russia has put Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on its wanted list, Russian state media reported Saturday, citing the interior ministry’s database.
Work stoppage possible as WestJet issues lockout notice to maintenance engineers' union
A lockout notice issued by WestJet to a union representing aircraft maintenance engineers could result in a work stoppage next week.