Pubdate: Fri, 6 Nov 1998 Page: 26 Source: West Australian, The (Australia) Contact: FAX: +61 8 94823830 Author: Kristen Watts and Catherine Fitzpatrick ULTERIOR MOTIVE FEARED IN RANDOM DRUG TESTING THE State Opposition has accused the Government of introducing random roadside drug testing as a means of controlling drug use rather than promoting road safety. Opposition transport spokeswoman Alannah MacTiernan said she was suspicious that the initiative came from the WA Drug Abuse Strategy Office rather than the Office of Road Safety. Yesterday, The West Australian reported that the State Government was considering introducing random testing and penalties for driving under the influence of drugs. Although Victoria announced at the same time that its police will test motorists for drugs under laws to be introduced next year, WA is waiting for new technology to be developed which would allow police to issue roadside saliva tests to drivers. WA wants the saliva tests to detect if motorists had used drugs, including marijuana, amphetamines and tranquillisers. Ms MacTiernan said she was concerned the tests would result in more young people being charged for cannabis offences, even though research had shown that marijuana use did not increase the risk of road accidents. "There have been very complex studies that have been done which show that those people who have cannabis in their bloodstream actually are less culpable than drivers that are drug free," she said. "Around Australia and around the world people are moving away from criminalising minor cannabis offences but here we have a move which clearly will end in many more young people ending up with criminal offences." She said the other danger was that if drivers recorded drug test results which indicated they had used drugs in the past, police could use their name to produce a databank of known users. "The worry is then that a person in that position becomes a known user and who knows what could happen then," she said. Curtin University addiction studies lecturer All Marsh said more research was needed so that authorities could establish the levels of drugs in a person's system that were or were not acceptable. But she believed sobriety tests - where a person suspected of driving under the influence of drugs was asked to walk a straight line or hop on one foot - were a more appropriate way of measuring how capable people were of being in control of a motor vehicle. The Kennett Government plans to make it an offence to drive with a drug equivalent of 0.12 blood-alcohol concentration or more. The Victorian police will ask suspected drugged drivers to undertake old-fashioned, walk-the-line sobriety tests followed by blood and urine tests. A Government spokesman said illegal and prescription drugs figured in the deaths of more than a third of Victorian drivers in the first six months of last year. - --- Checked-by: Rich O'Grady