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LEGAL REPORT
FAMILY LAW
ALTHOUGH RECREATIONAL marijuana
has been generally treated like social drinking
in family law cases since legalization, there
is an area where the equating of cannabis to
alcohol comes up short.
"If you think there may be some substance
abuse issues, it's much more difficult than you
might think to confirm that abuse with drug
testing if you have a savvy user," says Lau-
rie Pawlitza, a partner at Torkin Manes LLP
in Toronto. "The devices are better when it
comes to alcohol and the nature of drug test-
ing means it can be difficult to catch someone
when it comes to pot."
In custody and access cases, "the reckless
use or abuse of drugs or alcohol is still grounds
for one parent to seek and have primary care
of a child, with supervised access and testing,
whether it's a legal or illegal substance," says
Chad Johnson, a partner at McLeod Law LLP
in Calgary.
Pawlitza says she thinks most lawyers who
do custody access work would say they are
seeing more issues raised about drug use, in-
cluding pot, than they were five years ago, and
she has the sense that these issues "are more
prevalent than they used to be."
A quick Google search can teach someone how to escape
detection during THC testing
Drug tests challenge
family law cases
