Drug Driving - Roadside tests coming this year
If you thought driving under the influence of drugs was already a criminal offence, you’re right. Sort of.
Although you can be prosecuted for driving under the influence of drugs – prescription as well as recreational – the onus is on the police to prove your driving was impaired. And so difficult has that been to achieve that there were only 385 drug tests over the last Christmas period compared to 170,000 for drink.
Now ministers are ready to address the drug driving problem by introducing a roadside ‘Drugalyser’ test that can be simply administered. If a driver fails the test they will be taken to the police station for a further test and if they fail that they will be prosecuted, with the penalties expected to be the same as drink driving – a minimum 12 month ban, up to £5,000 fine and even up to six months in jail.
Which all sounds very sensible, but there seems to be no sign of proscribed limits for drugs yet. Until limits are proscribed – and at a level that allows for normal use – legislation can’t be enacted. And which drugs do you proscribe limits for?
Cannabis and coke seem obvious, as do tranquillisers and sleeping pills. But where do you go from there with an endless cocktail of drugs available? What about combinations of drugs? Will it be illegal to drive after one joint? And if it’s not, what about the driver who’s smoked a joint, snorted a line of coke and popped a couple of tranquillisers?
And what about the new recreational drugs that arrive on the market every week? How will they be proscribed for, or even tested for? It’s a minefield, which is why successive governments have shied away from it.
It seems likely the new test will catch the tokers and snorters and the tranquilliser abusers – but are they the real menace?
Source: Telegraph
Sheeplehater says
I feel the need to point out that anyone currently using the miracle drug Sativex (invented by GW, Ha!) should be aware that the new drug driving laws will also apply to them.Although newspapers and certain TV programs (Postcode Lottery, BBC) would have people believe that Sativex does not cause the same kind of high as street Cannabis, those who use it often confirm that they do in fact receive a high exactly the same, if not stronger, than smoked Cannabis!Also the patient information leaflet that comes with Sativex mentions that the main side effects are in fact ‘Euphoria’!
(That sounds awfully like getting stoned to me…)
As Sativex is a whole (Skunk) plant extract, albeit quite a bit stronger than some forms of street (Skunk) Cannabis, any amount taken orally will be detectable in the body up to one month after administration.
Real facts play little part in the new laws and have now marginalised another group of Cannabis users, MS sufferers who use Sativex.
Although the real priority should actually be to look into the amount of accidents caused by over the counter and prescription only medication.However this will not come to pass.(and if you’re wondering why that is, £££CHA £££ CHING!)
It’s almost like saying that as long as a man in a White coat makes a drug and your doctor or pharmacist dispenses it, it’s preferable to kill people With drugs that are legal rather than those which are illegal.
Although a 20 year study into the effects of Cannabis on driving skills (by,of all people, a motor insurance firm) has found that responsible Cannabis users are in fact safer drivers than most, this will not make the headlines or play any part in the new knee jerk reactionary, knight in shining armour game, that is currently being played by David ‘Bullingdon’ Cameron, the press & HM The Queen.
(Don’t forget to put a few w’s in front of the address below)
4autoinsurancequote.com/uncategorized/reasons-why-marijuana-users-are-safe-drivers/
Just so we are clear, I do not condone taking ANY drug before driving FULL STOP.
This however must include all psychoactive drugs, illegal and legal, in order to reduce the amount of deaths on our roads through dangerous drug driving.
As Cannabis can remain in the system for up to one month, if you went to Holland for a coffee shop holiday for example and returned to driving after a few days, this would mean that although when you used Cannabis you did not break any laws, upon your return to driving in the UK you would be considered a drug driver and have the full weight of the law bearing down on you.
Hardly fair.
Yet a person still confused the next day by, for example, an over the counter sleeping medication or worse an actual prescription only sleeping tablet, will have more rights on the road even though it has been shown that they may be much more of a risk than a responsible Cannabis user.
I’m sure however that at some point GW will be allowed to get around this new law the same way they got around the old law of Cannabis cultivation.
If you really need to know the reason why they can and will do this then you may be more naive than you wish to realise!
SChorley says
It is only because we keep it illicit that these laws were not brought in at the same time as alcohol. Our policy of prohibition, thinking we can prevent use, is preventing experiences being shared, lessons being learned and safe guards put in place. Open is always best than hidden. Prohibition is murder.
Cars UK says
Well, not quite. This applies to prescription as well as recreational drugs and the problem is – and will remain – proscribing limits for an almost endless array of drugs – whether legal or not – that can alter cognitive skills and perceptions. Alcohol is easy – it’s just one drug.
SChorley says
Yeah, you’re right. Cannabis does affect your ability to do complicated tasks yet the evidence says you’re safer as a cannabis driver. The insurance industry already knows this:
http://www.4autoinsurancequote.com/uncategorized/reasons-why-marijuana-users-are-safe-drivers/
In US where a regulated supply of cannabis is available traffic accidents and deaths from accidents are reduced:
http://healthland.time.com/2011/12/02/why-medical-marijuana-laws-reduce-traffic-deaths/
Will we just look at impaired or safe, or will we rely on old prejudices?
But you’re right it’ll end up with legal alternative to avoid the law, unless they regulate every substance rather than ban them.