Pubdate: Thu, 20 Apr 2000
Source: Dominion, The (New Zealand)
Copyright: 2000 The Dominion
Contact:  P O Box 1297, Wellington, New Zealand
Fax: +64 4 474-0350
Website: http://www.inl.co.nz/wnl/dominion/index.html

DRIVERS' BLOOD SAMPLES TO BE TESTED FOR CANNABIS

POLICE plan to analyse thousands of blood samples taken from drivers for 
cannabis.

The approximately 4800 samples were taken to test for alcohol under the 
Land Transport Act 1998, but "Police Minister George Hawkins said police 
intended to analyse them for cannabinoids.

The tests were being done because "events worldwide" suggested the effect 
of a combination of cannabis and alcohol on driving was "a far greater 
problem than expected", Mr Hawkins said.

Unlike alcohol, there was no specific limit for cannabis above which a 
driver was deemed to be legally incapable of proper control of a vehicle, 
so police did not routinely analyse blood for the presence of cannabis.

Testing for cannabis in a driver's blood was usually restricted to 
situations where a clearly. intoxicated driver involved in a bad driving 
incident returned a negative test for alcohol, he said.

In the past five years, police had tested blood of about 20 drivers a year 
for the presence of cannabis.

Mr Hawkins told The Dominion that no names or identification would be 
attached to the blood samples, which would be used only to allow police to 
get a general picture of the incidence of cannabis use among drivers.

They would not be used to pursue prosecutions for cannabis offences, he said.

"There is no comeback. We don't want police knocking on people's doors and 
saying, 'Hey, we found -cannabis in your sample'.

"Police just want to get more accurate information on what percentage of 
drivers had used marijuana."

That information could be very useful given the present debate about 
decriminalisation of cannabis, Mr Hawkins said.

His "legal people" had gone over the proposal and were sure it complied 
with the Land Transport Act.

He did not rule out wider testing of motorists for cannabis if a high 
incidence of cannabis use was detected in the, samples, but he had no plans 
to introduce it at present.

Mr Hawkins agreed traces of cannabis might remain in blood for long periods 
of time, and its presence might not necessarily indicate that the driver's 
abilities were impaired, "but then I'm not a chemist".

An Auckland University senior lecturer in criminal procedure, Scott 
Optican, said the proposal raised "tricky" questions of law. In the Salmond 
case in 1992, five justices of the Court of Appeal ruled that blood taken 
from a driver for the purposes of testing for alcohol could also be used to 
identify the driver by matching it with blood left on a car.

The Court of Appeal ruled that the blood could be used for other purposes 
which came under the broad intention of the Land Transport Act, which was 
to enhance road safety.

However, the proposal might breach the Bill of Rights, Mr Optican said.

It might interfere with people's right to legal advice and to give informed 
consent, and drivers might claim they had been subject to unreasonable 
search and seizure.

Drivers might have consented on legal advice, to giving blood on the 
understanding that it was to be used for alcohol testing, but might not 
have consented if they had known it would be used for other purposes, Mr 
Optican said.

The act states samples may be taken for statistical purposes, but must have 
the person's consent for that purpose, and samples taken for statistical 
purposes are not admissible in court proceedings.
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