Pubdate: Thu, 23 Dec 2004
Source: Advertiser, The (Australia)
Copyright: 2004 Advertiser Newspapers Ltd
Contact:  http://www.theadvertiser.news.com.au/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1
Author: Norrie Ross, Ben Packham and Jeremy Kelly
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/testing.htm (Drug Test)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?224 (Cannabis and Driving)

ROADSIDE TESTS TO CONTINUE

VICTORIA'S tainted roadside drug tests will continue despite a
humiliating blow for the State Government and police yesterday.

On the day the Herald Sun revealed an independent laboratory had
cleared van driver John De Jong, a police lab confirmed the negative
result.

Mr De Jong was the first driver in the world to return a positive
roadside saliva test and he may now sue the Government and Victoria
Police for the slur on his name.

The Royal Automobile Club of Victoria (RACV) said the drug bus launch
was a "fiasco" and that motorists had to be sure the tests were accurate.

And a scientist who advised the Government on the program admitted he
was warned of a legal disaster if it went ahead.

But VicRoads drugs specialist Dr Philip Swann said he ignored the
warnings because of the road safety benefits of saliva testing.

Police Minister Andre Haermeyer yesterday tried to shore up confidence
in the tests and said he had full confidence in the system.

He said a wrongly accused driver faced "a little bit of
inconvenience".

"No one has been wrongly charged, no one has been wrongly convicted,"
Mr Haermeyer said. "This is a process that drivers are asked to
undergo and the worst that can happen is that if the indicative
screening test gets it wrong then the driver faces a little bit of
inconvenience."

VicRoads funded the drug testing initiative, providing $1.4 million
for training, wages, deployment and equipment, including testing kits
and the drug bus.

Despite Mr De Jong being cleared, Assistant Commissioner for traffic
Bob Hastings said Victorian Police retained confidence in the program.

He saw no need to apologise to Mr De Jong, who was initially tested in
a media stunt on the drug bus's first day on the road. Mr De Jong's
case was part of the learning experience and would assist police as
they evaluated the system, he said.

Mr Hastings denied it was a black mark against the entire
system.

"It shows that the system is working. It shows that whatever occurs on
the side of the road is either validated or not validated in the
subsequent laboratory test. And that's what the system is about," he
said.

RACV general manager of public policy director Dr Ken Ogden said the
RACV strongly supported the program but it needed to be accurate for
the public to have faith in it.

"The whole episode on day one and its results were a fiasco and if it
continues it will be a disaster for road safety," Dr Ogden said.
"Clearly something has to be sorted out in relation to operating procedures.

"While the system works, in that there's been no person prosecuted for
a faulty reading, nevertheless public confidence has been
undermined."

Mr Norman Marshall, whose company does drug testing for some of
Australian's biggest corporations and sports agencies, said the drug
bus should be pulled off the road.

"The key issues for any drug testing program are fairness and
reasonableness," said Mr Marshall, of the Australian Drug Management
and Education Group.

"You cannot have a program which allows for someone who is innocent to
be put in a position where they are suffering anxiety and distress.
This is a classic example of it."

Mr Marshall said any device used on the roadside was always going to
be a cheap version of laboratory tests.

A toxicologist, who did not want to be named, said government experts
were warned of the legal dangers of roadside saliva tests.

The scientist said the issues were raised during a presentation on
saliva testing by Dr Swann at an international toxicology conference
in Melbourne last year.

"We raised the very scenario that happened," the toxicologist
said.

"We said that if you use this on the roadside you will get a false
positive and it will take days to get the true result.

"And depending on who is being tested you are leaving yourself open to
being sued for pain and suffering, defamation and psychological shock."

Dr Swann confirmed these comments had been made to him but they did
not change his mind.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Derek