Drinking, cannabis and driving: the rules for new drivers

Who has to be at zero

Ontario’s zero tolerance rules cover:

• Every driver 21 or under, whatever licence they hold, even a full G
• G1 and G2 drivers of any age, along with M1 and M2 motorcycle drivers
• Anyone driving a vehicle that needs a commercial licence (classes A to F) or a CVOR certificate

For these drivers, the limit is zero for alcohol and zero for drugs, including cannabis. Police can check for drugs at the roadside with approved oral-fluid screening devices. People authorized to use medical cannabis are exempt from the zero-drug rule, but not from the penalties for driving while impaired.

If a G1, G2 or young driver is caught

Any alcohol or drugs in your system brings an immediate roadside licence suspension and a penalty, and both grow each time it happens:

• An 8-hour education program the first time, and a 16-hour treatment program the second and third times.
• A six-month ignition interlock condition the third time.
• A $281 fee to reinstate your licence after each suspension.
• If you’re convicted, a fine and a further suspension. For G1 and G2 drivers it grows each time: 30 days, then 90 days, then the licence is cancelled and you start again from a G1.

The warn range: 0.05 to 0.079

Drivers 22 and over with a full licence can still be suspended at the roadside with a blood alcohol level from 0.05 to 0.079, or for failing a field sobriety test. The penalties match the table above: 7, 14 or 30 days, $250, $350 or $450, an education or treatment program, and a six-month ignition interlock condition the third time. Earlier suspensions now count for 10 years, up from 5.

If you blow in the warn range, you can ask for a second test on a different device.

Over 0.08, refusing a test, or failing a drug evaluation

At the roadside, every time: a 90-day licence suspension, a 7-day vehicle impoundment and a $550 penalty, followed by an education or treatment program. A criminal conviction comes on top of that:

• Fines: at least $1,000 for a first offence, $1,500 or $2,000 at higher blood alcohol levels, and $2,000 for refusing a test.
• Jail: at least 30 days for a second offence, and at least 120 days for a third.
• Your Ontario licence: suspended for at least a year on a first conviction, at least three years on a second within 10 years, and for life on a third, which may be reduced after 10 years.
• Ignition interlock: once your licence comes back, a breath-testing device in your car for at least a year after a first offence, or nine months if you install it within 30 days.
• A criminal record, plus $894 for the Back on Track program and the $281 reinstatement fee.

Can police test you without a reason?

For alcohol, yes. Since 2018, a police officer who has lawfully stopped you and has an approved screening device can demand a breath sample, even without suspecting you’ve been drinking. Refusing is a criminal offence with a minimum fine of $2,000, and it brings the same 90-day roadside suspension, 7-day impoundment and $550 penalty as failing.

For drugs, police need a reasonable suspicion before they can demand an oral-fluid sample.

Cannabis, prescriptions and other drugs

• Driving while impaired by drugs carries the same penalties as alcohol.
• Police use roadside oral-fluid screening, field sobriety tests and evaluations by specially trained drug recognition experts.
• Under the Criminal Code, 2 to under 5 nanograms of THC per millilitre of blood is a lesser offence with a fine of up to $1,000. Five or more, or 2.5 combined with a blood alcohol level of 0.05, carries the same penalties as alcohol-impaired driving.
• Ontario says cannabis impairment can last six hours or more, and there’s no reliably safe waiting time.
• Prescription and over-the-counter medication counts too. If a medication can affect your driving, ask your doctor or pharmacist before you drive.

Alcohol and cannabis in the car

• Alcohol can only be in the car unopened, with the seal intact, or packed in closed luggage that isn’t within easy reach.
• Passengers can’t drink in a vehicle on the road.
• Cannabis has to be in its original unopened packaging, or packed in closed luggage that isn’t within easy reach. That includes medical cannabis.
• Nobody in the car, passengers included, may smoke, vape or eat cannabis in a vehicle that’s being driven or about to be.

Being impaired in a parked car can still lead to charges, so sleeping it off in the driver’s seat isn’t a safe plan either.

The person beside a G1 driver

Your accompanying driver’s blood alcohol must be under 0.05, and ontario.ca says it should be zero if they’re 21 or under. If a roadside breath test shows they’re at or over 0.05, or they refuse one, police can tell you to stop driving.

Plan your way home

Decide how you’re getting home before the first drink, not after. A sober designated driver, transit, a taxi or a rideshare, or staying over are all better than a suspension, a criminal record and a car you can’t drive. And if you’re the designated driver on a G1 or G2, your own limit is still zero.