About the Project
The goal of the Pot and Driving project is to increase awareness
among young Canadians ages 14 to 18 years of the risks of cannabis-impaired
driving. Canadian youth have one of the highest rates of cannabis
use in the world and many young Canadians who use pot see it
as a benign, mainstream drug with no significant negative consequences.
Developing the Pot and Driving Message
Early in 2005, the Canadian Public Health Association (CPHA)
undertook an extensive environmental scan on a broad range
of issues relating to cannabis: age, alcohol, audience, crash
risk, designated drivers, gender, harm reduction, impairment,
law enforcement, legal drugs, messages, passengers, peers,
cannabis' positive image, prohibition, region, site of use,
tobacco, transportation, and video games. This research was
augmented by more than 30 key informant interviews with traffic
safety and drug education experts, cannabis opinion leaders,
educators and youth.
In April 2005, three exploratory focus groups of young Canadians
were conducted. Two were held in Toronto, one with college
students and the other with high school students. The third
focus group was conducted in Ottawa at the ODAWA Native Friendship
Centre with high school and college students. All groups included
a balance of males and females who used pot with varying rates
of frequency.
Key learnings from these exploratory focus groups were that:
- Youth do not believe that cannabis has dangerous effects
on their driving skills.
- Tolerance level (i.e. frequent versus new users) and driving
experience make some difference in the level of confidence
and trust behind the wheel.
- The college group was less likely to drive under the influence
of cannabis than the high school group and was more likely
to be concerned about the burnt-out stage.
- Those who were in accidents immediately after consuming
cannabis discounted the possibility that cannabis was the
cause and justified the outcome as a direct result of reckless
driving.
- The impression is that cannabis does not affect driving
skills and that impairment can be successfully concealed.
- Drinking and driving was considered a lot riskier than
driving under the influence of cannabis, in terms of the
probability of an accident as well as the likelihood of being
caught by the police.
- Lack of law enforcement and ways to effectively measure
cannabis impairment increase the skepticism about the validity
of the pot and driving argument.
- Statements that highlighted the effects of cannabis that
all the respondents identified with--such as slow reaction
times and reduced attention span--are accurate depictions
of impairment and rated as authentic.
- After some discussion, respondents admitted to some concern
about driving high in high-traffic areas and encounters with
reckless drivers on the road.
We knew that the obstacle we would have to overcome was the
belief that cannabis does not impair driving ability and that
there is no particular risk related to driving high. We also
had to keep in mind that many youth are impairment experts.
To be realistic, we decided the response we should look for
would be "Yeah, they might have a point. I drive fine
when I'm high. But you never know what the other guy is going
to do and my reaction time is probably slower. Maybe I should
find another way home this time or let someone else drive."
Testing the Message
Four campaign options were developed by Arnold Worldwide Canada.
They were tested in six focus groups at five sites in four
geographic locations in June 2005. Four groups were conducted
in English (two in Victoria, British Columbia and two outside
Winnipeg, Manitoba) and two groups in French (both in Montreal).
Three of the focus groups were designated as target groups
and three as supplemental groups (heavy users, aboriginal male,
and multicultural French).
Each concept included a proposed television ad presented as
a still or "freeze frame", a tagline, a logo (one
for all four campaigns), and either one or two poster option(s).
The proposed ads were accompanied by a short scenario that
was read to participants after their initial reaction to the
still images were recorded.
The most successful campaign was titled "Senseless" and
used an image of two pilots in a cockpit smoking pot with the
tag line "If it doesn't make sense here, why does it make
sense when you drive?". No other campaign succeeded in
inciting such in-depth and thoughtful feedback before the story
and tagline were revealed. It was also the only campaign that
encouraged participants to talk about the responsibility drivers
have for the safety of their passengers. Participants across
all groups made a number of comments that clearly demonstrated
that the anticipated consequences of a jet airplane crash--an
event with much greater impact than that of a car crash--were
so disastrous as to be an effective means of encouraging serious
consideration of the issue of mixing cannabis and driving.
Developing the Campaign Materials
The pot-smoking pilots therefore became the campaign image
and 10 Questions were developed based on comments heard from
young people in the focus groups. The rest of the campaign
materials were then developed to support the image and
Questions.
The Sponsors
The Canadian Public Health Association (CPHA) is a national,
independent, not-for-profit, voluntary association representing
public health in Canada with links to the international public
health community (www.cpha.ca).
Financial Assistance for the Pot and Driving Campaign was
provided by Canada's Drug Strategy, Health Canada. The Drug
Strategy Community Initiatives Fund aims to tackle problematic
substance use on two key fronts: 1) promotion and prevention
and 2) harm reduction.
National Advisory Group
Our research was guided by a national advisory group of experts
with extensive experience in drug education and research, traffic
safety, youth engagement, police services, harm reduction,
social marketing and public health.
Members:
Cynthia Callard is the Executive Director
of Physicians for a Smoke-Free Canada, a national health organization
founded in 1995 with the goal to reducing smoking and exposure
to second-hand smoke (www.smoke-free.ca). She has been integrally
involved in tobacco-reduction initiatives since the mid-1980s
when she worked as a researcher on Canada's pioneering tobacco
control legislation.
Catherine Carry is a policy analyst at the
Ajunnginiq (Inuit) Centre of the National Aboriginal
Health Organization in Ottawa (NAHO), working on a range of
public health issues. NAHO's goal is to influence and advance
the health and well-being of Aboriginal Peoples through carrying
out knowledge-based strategies (http://www.naho.ca).
Prior to joining NAHO she was with the Pauktuutit Inuit Women's
Association, coordinating, developing and managing health promotion
projects, multi-media resources and capacity building initiatives.
Walter Cavalieri is a Founder-Director of
the Canadian Harm Reduction Network and President of the Toronto
Harm Reduction Task Force. Since the mid-1980s, he has been
researching, applying and promoting harm reduction as the basis
for therapeutic collaborations with people for whom drug use
has become a problem. He is Vice Chair of the Community Programs
Advisory Council at the University of Toronto's Faculty of
Medicine and actively involved in bringing a community perspective
to the education and training of future physicians. He is a
personal counsellor on staff at Ryerson University's Centre
for Student Development and Counselling.
Laura Goossen has worked in the area of addictions
for 20 years, primarily with the Addictions Foundation of Manitoba
(AFM). Much of her work has been directed to youth in counselling,
prevention and educational capacities. Currently she is Director
of Programs in the Winnipeg Region, overseeing all youth and
adult programming in the area of alcohol, drugs, and gambling.
She has served as AFM's Director of Corporate Resources and
was responsible for the community prevention program, library
services and promotion of all agency programs.
Don Hewson is President and CEO of Hewson,
Bridges and Smith, a firm of marketing and communications specialists. Founded
in 1976, Hewson, Bridges and Smith provides a comprehensive
range of services from positioning research and brand building
strategies to corporate identity programs and compelling marketing
communications across all media. (http://www.hbsmarketing.com/welcome_to_hbs/index.html)
Nishad Khanna is with Tiny Giant Magazine/The
Students Commission (TG/SC), a diverse, global-minded charitable
organization that is run by youth for youth across Canada. The
Students Commission is dedicated to creating and promoting
opportunities for young people to learn and grow in a positive
and safe environment. They have been creating innovative,
effective and educational programs for youth since 1991. Their
strength lies in attracting and facilitating diverse groups
of young people, supported by adult allies, to work together
to take action on issues that affect them. As the lead
organization of the Centre of Excellence for Youth Engagement,
the Students Commission believes that engaging young people
in an effective and meaningful way creates resiliency, in turn
building community and citizenship.
Dr. Robert Mann is the Senior Scientist,
Social Prevention and Health Policy Research for the Centre
for the Addiction and Mental Health in Toronto (CAMH) (http://www.camh.net).
CAMH--Canada's leading addiction and mental health teaching
hospital--transforms the lives of people affected by addiction
and mental illness by applying the latest scientific advances
through integrated and compassionate clinical practice, health
promotion, education and research. Dr. Mann is also Associate
Professor, Department of Public Health Services, University
of Toronto's Faculty of Medicine.
Douglas McCall is the Executive Director
for the Canadian Association for School Health (CASH) based
in Vancouver. CASH is a national association composed of 12
provincial/territorial coalitions whose members promote the
health of children and youth through school-related health
promotion. The approach is to help community agencies, parents,
educators, health professionals, youth and others to work together
using the school as a strategic setting within the community.
Andrew Murie has been the Executive Director
of MADD Canada (Mothers Against Drunk Driving) since 1997.
MADD Canada is a non-profit, grassroots organization committed
to stopping impaired driving and supporting victims of violent
crimes (http://www.madd.ca).
The organization's heart is its volunteers, comprised of mothers,
fathers, friends, professional experts in the anti-impaired
driving field and concerned citizens who want to make a difference
in the fight against impaired driving.
Mike Niebudek is a 23-year veteran police
officer with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. He is a Director
with the Canadian Professional Police Association (CPPA) and
is a member of the CPPA Justice Reform Committee. The
Canadian Professional Police Association is the national voice
for 54,000 police personnel across Canada. It is concerned
with issues of justice reform, officer safety and protection
of the public. Through its 225 affiliates, membership of the
CPPA includes police personnel serving in police services from
Canada's smallest towns and villages as well as those working
in our largest municipal and provincial police services, including
the RCMP Members Association, the Canadian Railway Police and
First Nations police officers.
Dr. Christiane Poulin is a professor and
holds a Canada Research Chair in Population Health and Addictions
at Dalhousie University in Halifax. She was the prime force
behind the standardized Student Drug Use Survey in the Atlantic
Provinces. Dr. Poulin is the Principal Investigator of a research
program funded by the Canadian Population Health Initiative
focussing on individual and community level determinants of
adolescent students' substance use and mental health. She is
the Principal Investigator of An Integrated School- and Community-Based
Demonstration Intervention Addressing Drug Use Among Adolescents,
a four-year, school-based intervention exploring harm minimization.
Dr. Poulin was a family doctor before undertaking further training
in epidemiology and Community Medicine.
Ex-Officio
Barbara Kennedy is Manager, Office of Demand
Reduction, Health Canada.
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