A 40-year-old woman may lose her livelihood after being arrested for driving her taxi while under the influence of cannabis.
Longueuil police say she was arrested last Thursday in Sorel after a routine traffic stop. Police stopped her for driving over the speed limit, and when they approached her car, they detected a smell of cannabis inside. That coupled with the way she was acting led officers to ask her to take a roadside drug test.
She failed the test and was arrested.
Upon her arrival at a Longueuil police station, the woman failed 12 tests.
“All these coordination tests are recorded, and you also have to pass a urine test,” explained Ghislain Vallières, spokesperson for the Longueuil police force.
The woman is now facing charges of driving under the influence of drugs. If found guilty, she can lose her licence for a year.
Police seized her vehicle.
For those who drive for a living – taxi drivers, school bus drivers, police officers – there is a zero-tolerance policy, said Vallières.
“If she’s guilty, she can lose her job,” he said.
Vallières said police in the Longueuil police territory are exceptionally well trained to catch drivers under the influence of marijuana.
“We have more police officers who are trained in Longueuil than in any other police service in the territory of Quebec,” he said, adding that the city ramped up its training ahead of the legalization of cannabis.
Vallières had a warning for drivers: “The new law came into force on the 17th of October, and since then we have eight of those accusations – and since the beginning of 2018, 37 of those. So we’re taking that very seriously, and we’ll be on the road, not only in the Christmas period, but all year long, all day long, 24 hours a day. Our police officers are very awake.”
Vallières said that like with accusations of drunk driving, people have the right to refuse to take the test, but it comes with an automatic recognition of guilt.
