Pubdate: Thu, 10 Jan 2008 Source: Martlet (CN BC Edu) Copyright: 2008 Martlet Publishing Society Contact: http://www.martlet.ca/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/3140 Author: Rosemary Westwood Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?224 (Cannabis and Driving) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mjcn.htm (Cannabis - Canada) DRIVING HIGH Police Are Catching More Stoned People Getting Behind The Wheel As the Counterattack Road Check season winds down, Saanich police were surprised by one memorable night that saw the number of drivers caught driving while high on marijuana exceed those caught for drinking and driving. On the evening of Dec. 18, five high drivers were handed 24-hour driving suspensions. One driver rolled into the road check with a joint in hand. "Amongst pot users there is that belief that of all the drugs, smoking marijuana is the least of all evils. The truth of the matter is any drug impairs people's judgment and decision-making ability, which driving requires," said Saanich police Sgt. John Price. "I think we've seen an increase in the number of pot users getting 24-hour suspensions and, occasionally, impaired driving convictions." A 2003 Ontario survey also found that drug-impaired driving is on the rise, with 20 per cent of high school drivers who were surveyed admitting to getting behind the wheel within one hour of using marijuana at least once the previous year. Scott Macdonald, assistant director at the Centre for Addictions Research B.C. and professor at UVic's School of Health Information Science, found a high proportion of people who drove after using marijuana said they tended to slow down and drive more carefully. He said marijuana, unlike alcohol or other drugs such as cocaine, tends to make users aware of their impairment and causes them to compensate. "The question is whether they're able to do that or not," he said. Several countries have undertaken studies to determine what effect marijuana has on the likelihood of a person getting into a car crash. "The well-controlled [studies] have pretty much shown that marijuana is a risk factor for crashes," he said. "People are somewhere between two and five times more likely to be involved in a crash if they're high on marijuana." But while the rules around being impaired by drugs or alcohol while driving are the same, Price and Macdonald agreed it's harder for police to detect a particular drug than it is to detect alcohol, which can be identified by smell and through a breathalyzer test. "We don't have anything like the breathalyzer to determine if there's active THC in the system," said Macdonald. "You can do blood analyses, and that's rather invasive." Currently, the law prevents police from demanding a person suspected of driving while high go to a police station for further investigation and testing. As a result, said Price, there are fewer impaired driving convictions for drugs compared to alcohol. But the federal government wants to change that. Introduced in 2004, Bill C-16 is waiting for a second reading in the House of Commons. It would amend the Criminal Code in an effort to increase police ability to convict drug-impaired drivers. The bill would let police demand that suspected impaired drivers submit to Standardized Field Sobriety Tests, which include physical tests such as the one-leg stand. Bill C-16 would also allow police to demand that drivers submit to an evaluation by a drug recognition expert at a police station, as well as provide fluid samples. For suspicion of marijuana use, this would mean a blood test because the drug remains in the system months after use, making a urine test ineffective. Bill C-16 would also increase penalties for convictions, with fines for a first offence rising from $600 to $1,000. The minimum mandatory sentence for a second offence would increase from 14 to 30 days, and from 90 to 120 days for a third offence. Gayle Quin, vice-president of the Cannabis Buyer's Club of Canada, said she finds smoking marijuana makes her a more careful driver. But she warned that eating marijuana can make a person drowsy, and therefore dangerous behind the wheel of a car. Macdonald said eating cannabis can be more dangerous because it's harder to gauge the dosag and the effects are delayed. "It is a risk factor for crashes - I think the literature is becoming more convinced of that," he said. "But at the same time, it's not nearly in the same league as alcohol." But police aren't considering marijuana's relative dangers. "We're looking for everybody who might have made a poor decision when they go behind the wheel of the car," said Price, who added that there's a simple solution to staying safe and away from police scrutiny: abstinence from drugs and alcohol. "Surely to God one in your group is willing to abstain one night so everyone can get home safely." - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom