There is no doubt that drugs—including marijuana—can significantly impair your ability to operate a motor vehicle in a safe, careful, and prudent manner. If you get behind the wheel of a car while drugs impair you, you are not only placing yourself and other drivers at risk, you are breaking the law in Calgary.

A police officer will be able to determine if you are operating your motor vehicle while under the influence of drugs and has the power to charge and arrest you for impaired driving. If you are ultimately found guilty or convicted of impaired driving in a Calgary court, you could have your driving privileges suspended, and you could face significant monetary fines and even jail time. If you face charges of impaired driving, the Calgary criminal defence lawyers at Bourdon Defence can explain all of your legal options in a way that you can clearly understand them. We offer our clients result-oriented legal representation and can assist you with defending your impaired driving charge.

Calgary Law Regarding Impaired Driving

Calgary criminal law prohibits drivers from operating their motor vehicles while they are under the influence of alcohol, drugs, or any combination of the two. Depending on the severity of the criminal offence, a conviction could result in monetary fines all the way up to life imprisonment. The specific penalty imposed depends largely upon the actual drug or alcohol concentration, whether this is a first-time or a repeat offence, and whether your intoxication led to a motor vehicle accident that caused injuries to others. When it comes to marijuana intoxication while driving, there are two prohibited levels for THC. THC is the main psychoactive ingredient in marijuana. Specifically, you can face charges of one of the following:

• Having between two ng and five ng of THC per milliliters of blood within two hours of operating a motor vehicle
• Having five ng or more THC per milliliters of blood within two hours of operating a motor vehicle

When alcohol and cannabis are combined, the driver cannot have 50 or more milligrams of alcohol per 100 milliliters of blood and 2.5 ng of THC or more per milliliter of blood.

Call a Calgary Criminal Defence Lawyer Today

Police officers are able to use a variety of investigative techniques to determine if you are intoxicated—and if so, your level of intoxication. Those methods include observing physical symptoms (e.g., tremors, abnormal speech patterns, or red eyes), Breathalyzer tests, and field sobriety tests. The defences available are oftentimes very fact-specific and depend upon which of these techniques the investigating officer uses. At Bourdon Defence, our team of skilled litigators will be able to determine which legal defence or defences afford you the best chances of success in court. We can advocate for you aggressively during plea negotiations and at the trial table. To schedule a free consultation and case evaluation with a skilled criminal defence lawyer in Calgary, please call us today at (403) 474-4143, or contact us online.