Sober bars, serving non-alcoholic drinks, have opened in Kelowna and Metro Vancouver, hoping to shake up the province’s growing beverage scene with a dry twist.
Collisions involving marijuana and alcohol more than doubled and fatal marijuana-related crash victims had 50 percent higher chance of having alcohol in their system.
New research indicates that between 2000 and 2018, the percentage of car crash deaths in the United States involving cannabis have doubled, and the percentage of deaths involving both cannabis and alcohol, have more than doubled.
Outlining some of the points of concern he has for this development, Pastor Tim MacKinnon of Calvary Baptist pointed out that according to various sources, Saskatchewan has one of the highest rates of drinking and driving in the country. There is also concern that there could be an increase in crime activity in neighborhoods directly around liquor stores, he said. According to the Canadian Centre on Substance Use and Addiction, there is an increase in domestic violence and more long- term costs to the government in neighborhoods with liquor stores (2020). In 2014 Saskatchewan received revenue of $391 million from liquor stores, but lost $563 million in alcohol harm-related costs, according to the Canadian Institute of Substance Use Research in 2019.