More than a quarter of Canadians who have used marijuana say they’ve driven a vehicle while high, according to recently released EKOS polling research on marijuana done for Health Canada last summer.

That figure jumps to 42 per cent for recent pot users.

Over a third of survey respondents said they’ve been a passenger with someone driving while high. For young adults (aged 19-24), that figure jumps to 42 per cent, and rides as high as 70 per cent for recent marijuana users.

But fewer – about a tenth of respondents – said they would be likely to accept a ride from someone driving under the influence of marijuana. Another tenth said they would be “moderately likely.”

The combination online/telephone survey, quietly posted online near the end of December, was done in May and June, with a sample of 2,201 Canadians 13-years-old or older. It has a margin of error of plus or minus 2.1 percentage points 19 times out of 20.

Next to alcohol, cannabis is the most commonly detected substance on drivers arrested for impaired driving in Canada.

The chair for the government’s cannabis legalization task force, Anne McLellan, told reporters in December that setting regulations for drug-impaired driving was one of the most difficult issues the task force examined. While McLellan pointed out pot impaired driving is not a new problem, the final report warned about a “heightened anxiety that legalization may lead to increased dangers on the road” and suggested the government should hash out a national education campaign on impaired driving, along with looking into setting a THC limit.

The Liberal government is expected to introduce its marijuana legalization legislation this spring, a major drug policy change for the country that’s still lacking in details.

The federal Tories have criticized the policy, saying it’s causing confusion among Canadians over what’s legal. Illegal pot dispensaries have popped up over the past year, frustrating Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and leading to police arrests across the country, including one in Ottawa this week.

It also has Manitoba Premier Brian Pallister calling for a delay in implementation to prepare for legalization and design a public awareness campaign about pot-impaired driving.

The $81,416 EKOS poll was done to study in detail how Canadians view and use marijuana, and how much they know about it, ahead of legalizing recreational marijuana.

The wide-ranging survey also found some 41 per cent of Canadians see pot as a high health risk. That figure dropped to 27 per cent for young adults – 40 per cent of whom consider it a low risk.

The report says the survey research was designed to “establish a baseline for the general population aged 13+” allowing a starting point for monitoring how perceptions change as the government legalizes. The government has argued that legalizing and regulation marijuana sales will deter youth consumption.

It’s still not entirely clear how legalizing – in itself – affects youth use.

A recent study in the medical journal JAMA Pediatrics surveyed Grade 8 and 10 students in Colorado and Washington, where recreational pot has been legalized. In Washington, pot use went up and risk perceptions went down, while in Colorado they changed little. Researchers suggested that could be from varying levels of marijuana commercialization between the two states.

Another takeaway from the poll: about two-thirds of Canadians said they already have access to enough trustworthy information about marijuana’s health risks.

Seventy four per cent of parents said they already have enough access to trustworthy information on the topic. Recent users clocked in at 85 per cent. Sources they said they’d most likely consult first are health-care professionals (53 per cent), followed by “the internet” (15 per cent). For young adults and parents, “the internet” ranks at 23 per cent.

Strikingly, though, only 86 per cent know that pot is currently illegal for recreational use, and nearly a fifth of Canadians who have consumed pot told EKOS they don’t know what method, exactly, they use to consume their marijuana.