Pubdate: Sat, 01 Feb 2003 Source: Toronto Star (CN ON) Copyright: 2003 The Toronto Star Contact: http://www.thestar.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/456 Author: Cal Millar POLICE FOCUS ON DRUGGED DRIVERS Officers Given Special Training Police have long been concerned about drivers impaired by illegal drugs like marijuana and cocaine, but until now there has been little they could do to detect and charge offenders. The answer was on show yesterday at police headquarters in the form of 19 new graduates from a course that trains law-enforcement officers in detecting drug use. The 19 graduates include 17 police officers from across Canada — three from Toronto — and two corrections officers. All are trained as "drug recognition experts," which gives them the status of expert witnesses in jurisdictions that recognize them. In British Columbia and Manitoba, these officers can issue 24-hour licence suspensions. There have been several convictions of impaired driving in Vancouver based on evidence from DRE officers. City police Deputy Chief Mike Boyd said yesterday he hopes Ontario will pass legislation to allow courts here to accept evidence from these specially trained officers. Boyd said changes in legislation are also necessary to allow police to demand samples for drug evaluations similar to those requiring people impaired by alcohol to give a breath sample. "Young people are more likely to toke and drive rather than drink and drive," he said. "That is a huge concern for us, especially when we consider the high potency of marijuana that's on the streets of Canada today," he added. Boyd said the Senate special committee on illegal drugs estimated that between five and 12 per cent of drivers may drive under the influence of cannabis. "That may increase to as much as 20 per cent of male drivers under the age of 25 years," he said. According to police, one company is working on a swab test that will identify seven or eight different drugs and another firm is working on an eye scanning device that can detect a number of drugs in a person's system. - --- MAP posted-by: Larry Stevens