1 in 5 Canadians report being in a vehicle with a high driver, reveals CAA polling

A young man stares at a fridge, apparently contemplating a snack.  

Seconds later, there’s a knock at the door – and he opens the fridge and peers inside, his face slack and confused. Turns out, he’s already had a snack -- in the form of cannabis edibles.  

It’s funny and clever – and just one of three TV ads CAA has recently created as part of an update to a road safety and cannabis awareness campaign.  

Based on the message that “if you can’t drive your body, you can’t drive your car”, the ads use situational humour to underline the more serious message that consuming cannabis edibles and driving don’t mix.  

One in five people report having either driven while high or been a passenger in a vehicle operated by someone who was, according to recent CAA’s public opinion research conducted as part of the campaign. 

“In the years since legalization in 2018, cannabis consumption has evolved from traditional methods like smoking and vaping to more broadly appealing edibles,” says Julie Beun, Managing Director of Communications and Public Relations for CAA North & East Ontario.  

“Unlike smoking, however, edibles take a different route to the brain through the stomach, resulting in what can be a more unpredictable experience. We've also seen that when people consume edibles, there are delayed onset of effects and consumers may also overestimate the control they have over their reactions, making driving even more dangerous,” she says.  

Created by One23West Creative Agency, the ads depict three typical scenarios showing young adults impacted by the effects of edibles, like gummies. The ads, directed by New Brunswick filmmaker Michael Clowater, are set in social situations where the main character makes an error in judgment because of the effects of cannabis, explains Jordan Hamer, the One23West vice president and executive creative director who worked on the ads. 

In one scene, a young woman munching on candy at a gathering accidentally grabs and starts to eat planter pebbles; in another, a young man leaving a party props up one foot on a stool to tie his shoe but bends over to the ground to tie the other. In the case of the person staring into the fridge, the camera pulls out to reveal another man knocking furiously at the back door. 

“This was really a campaign for the kind of people who are newer to cannabis. We wanted to point out those funny moments that you wouldn’t even associate with being high or that you might not quite be aware of what you’re doing at the time and unaware of the slip-up,” says Hamer.  

“It’s trying to raise some awareness to pay a little bit more attention to the way you function just on your own, before you think that you can even get behind the wheel of a car.”  

In choosing to focus on younger people, Hamer says the campaign targets those with less life experience, as well.  

“We found in the research data that there’s a high prevalence of edible use amongst older users; they’re a bit more aware of their ability and a little more cautious, especially around the operation of a motor vehicle. Younger generations may be a little bit more confident to the point of overconfidence in their belief that, ‘no, I'll be fine.’” 

Underpinning the campaign is new research from the University of Saskatchewan that found critical driving skills, like reaction time, lane discipline and speed were impaired with edibles consumption. At 1.5 hours after consuming edibles, 30 per cent of participants in a driving simulator were involved in a collision. An hour later, that rose to 44 per cent and peaked at 58 per cent four hours after consumption.  

A 2018 CAA-funded study by the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre (RI-MUHC) and McGill University found that one in five young Canadians believes they are as good or better drivers high than when sober. Another CAA-commissioned study by Dig Insights, conducted a year after legalization, found that 1.2 million Ontario drivers have driven after consuming cannabis. 

The ads, which are a follow-up on a 2020 CAA campaign called Do Anything But Drive, are an unexpected approach for CAA, considered one of Canada’s most trusted brands, notes Spencer Ryan, another One23West vice president and executive creative director who worked on the project. 

“Why it works so well as a campaign and why it is memorable for people is because it comes from a brand with a lot of legitimacy. You can take a leadership stake in it without being the government babysitter at the same time,” he says. “It’s really cool.”  

Learn more about the campaign here.