The federal government says it has taken a big step forward in its crackdown on drug-impaired driving by being about to introduce Canada’s first roadside saliva test. Once in use, police will be able to swab a driver’s mouth to test for the presence of THC, the main psychoactive ingredient in cannabis. Concurrently, Saskatchewan is launching pilot projects to curb impaired driving. It’s well-known that we still have a big problem with drunk drivers and no initiative up to this point has been able to solve the problem. The province’s Innovation Saskatchewan minister says we can’t continue doing what we’re doing and expect different results, and a politician never spoke truer words. The pilot projects, which include police handing out a “positive ticket” to sober drivers that are stopped, adding questions to liquor permit applications, and having officers stop by local bars and pubs to encourage patrons to plan a safe ride home. Time will tell if these new initiatives have any effect on curbing impaired driving. The minister says continuing to increase drinking and driving penalties won’t solve the problem entirely. That may be so but one would think there is a point where massive enough fines and loss of licence for years if not for life would eventually have an impact, especially if combined with those aforementioned initiatives.

That’s Coffeetalk. I’m Vic Dubois.