Pubdate: Thu, 10 May 2007
Source: Ottawa Citizen (CN ON)
Copyright: 2007 The Ottawa Citizen
Contact:  http://www.canada.com/ottawa/ottawacitizen/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/326
Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07/n541/a02.html
Author: Rob Nicholson, Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada

DRUG-IMPAIRMENT LAW BALANCES RIGHTS AND DRIVING SAFETY

Re: Common sense goes up in smoke, April 30.

This opinion article seriously misstates the anti-drug impaired 
driving provisions of Bill C-32 before Parliament.

An officer will be able to require a person to perform roadside 
physical sobriety tests upon suspicion of a drug in the body, based 
on behaviour or physical symptoms such as eyes that do not react 
normally to light. This is similar to the suspicion required for an 
alcohol breath test.

It is only if the driver fails the road-side sobriety tests -- 
meaning that the driver is unable to walk a straight line or stand on 
one foot and hold the other foot six inches off the ground -- that 
the officer can demand further tests at the police station.

Before the drug recognition evaluation-certified officer can demand a 
bodily substance for analysis for the presence of a drug, the officer 
must have formed the opinion that a particular family of drugs or a 
combination of drugs and alcohol is causing the impairment. Then 
driving with the impairment is a criminal act because the person has 
taken the wheel after voluntarily consuming a substance that reduces 
the ability to drive.

What Bill C-32 will do is to compel the person to participate in the 
physical co-ordination tests and in the drug recognition evaluation 
(DRE) process. It is drafted to parallel the alcohol breath testing 
provisions that have been found to be justifiable under the Charter, 
and I am confident that this bill will also survive Charter challenges.

Ultimately, a court will decide whether to convict on the charge of 
impaired driving based on evidence of erratic driving or behaviour, 
failure to complete simple physical co-ordination tests, a DRE report 
on the physical symptoms observed, and an analysis of bodily 
substances. Currently, in cases where a driver participates in a DRE 
evaluation on a voluntary basis, courts in Canada have found that 
this is admissible and sufficient to prove beyond a reasonable doubt 
that the driver was impaired.

Bill C-32 is a realistic response to a serious problem. It will give 
the police the tools they need to better combat drug-impaired driving 
and will reduce the number of Canadians killed and injured by this crime.

Rob Nicholson,

Ottawa

Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada
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MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman