Pubdate: Wed, 09 Feb 2005
Source: Guardian, The (CN PI)
Copyright: 2005 The Guardian, Charlottetown Guardian Group Incorporated
Contact:  http://www.theguardian.pe.ca/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/174
Author: Wayne Thibodeau, The Guardian
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?224 (Cannabis and Driving)

LOCAL POLICE FORCES CONCERNED ABOUT DRUGGED DRIVERS

Police say they are unarmed to fight the growing number of Islanders who 
drive under the influence of drugs. Only 24 police officers across Canada 
- -- and just one in P.E.I. -- have the specialized training needed to charge 
somebody who may be behind the wheel of a car while under the influence of 
either prescription or non-prescription drugs.

Charlottetown Deputy Police Chief Richard Collins says it is imperative 
more police officers are trained to spot drivers who may be under the 
influence of drugs and legislation must be changed to give police officers 
more powers to crack down on these drivers.

"Right now, we have to wait until somebody is involved in an accident 
involving injury or death in order to get a demand for a blood sample," 
Collins told MLAs on Tuesday.

"I really think we're missing a target group here that is out there. We 
cannot be talking about the abuse of OxyContin and other types of narcotics 
and not draw the conclusion or inference that some of these people are 
driving. I think it's probably one of the most serious and significant 
issues out there today."

Collins appeared Tuesday before the legislature's Standing Committee on 
Social Development which is investigating ways to combat drinking and driving.

He said while they may be winning the war on drinking and driving, he's 
worried about the number of people who may be drugged and driving and 
getting away with it.

"It is imperative that training of officers as drug recognition experts be 
escalated to deal with the increased number of individuals driving under 
these influences."

But the training comes at a price.

Officers must spend two to four weeks at a training centre in Nevada and 
Collins admits he doesn't have the money in his budget to send officers for 
that kind of training.

The situation is the same at police forces across the province.

RCMP Superintendent Russ Mirasty, who now heads up the RCMP in P.E.I., 
shares Collins' concern. He said they are pleased to have one of their 
members trained in drug recognition but he said more officers must be trained.

"One of our members has taken the first phase of the training and that was 
two weeks," said Mirasty.

"The final phase is to go to an area and evaluate people actually under the 
influence of different drugs and they have to successfully identify classes 
of drugs in eight out of 10 cases. That's then confirmed by toxicology."

The federal government is proposing changes to the Criminal Code, through 
Bill C-16, that would give new powers to the police to fight drugged drivers.

But Collins warns police won't be ready to enforce that bill unless more 
officers are trained. He said without proper training any charges that 
police lay will be thrown out of court.

"It hasn't been a training priority and once again with training comes 
budgetary restraints. The two come hand in hand. Now, we're playing catch-up.

"But the reality of it is the training has to start and it has to be at an 
escalated pace."

Proposed legislative changes that would decriminalize marijuana are only 
heightening the police officials' concerns about the lack of police 
officers trained in drug recognition.

Collins said that will create a "more blatant, flagrant use" or marijuana.

"For too long we've associated impaired driving with alcohol as opposed to 
drugs," he said.

"If the legislation was to advance, you could well see people driving 
around, because of no criminal repercussions, you could see people driving 
around quite wantonly smoking marijuana."
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom