While Justin Trudeau and his Liberal government have yet to deliver on marijuana legalization in Canada, several jurisdictions have removed criminal penalties for marijuana posession and use in the US, prompting the Motorcycle Safety Foundation to respond with an official awareness kit.
The kit is available as a course-in-a-box. MSF already has a course like this, focusing on alcohol use. The idea is, you buy the course and use it to do presentations at rallies, club meetings, other motorcycle-centered meet-ups.
Along with literature regarding marijuana’s effects on a motorcyclist, the curriculum also includes a set of “marijuana goggles,” which are intended to show a user the effects of cannabis first-hand. According to their press release:
“The Goggle cannot truly replicate the effects of a marijuana “high” but the unique way in which it distorts perceptions causes some impairments. The participant then needs to attempt to compensate for these impairments to complete the kit’s activities. Because the impairments are in the same general areas of cognition and motor skills affected by marijuana, the participant can get a sense of the challenges a “high” driver or motorcyclist would face when dealing with traffic situations.”
The kit costs $595 US. More details are available here. If marijuana does indeed become legalized in Canada, it might be worth taking a closer look at, for the purpose of educating riders.
