Pubdate: Tue, 04 Nov 2003 Source: Edmonton Sun (CN AB) Copyright: 2003, Canoe Limited Partnership. Contact: http://www.fyiedmonton.com/htdocs/edmsun.shtml Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/135 Author: Lori Coolican Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/testing.htm (Drug Testing) GROUP WANTS POT TESTS FOR LOADED DRIVERS Scientist Says That's Not So Easy The federal government shouldn't push ahead with plans to decriminalize pot until cops have a way to detect and charge stoned drivers, an anti-drunk-driving group warned yesterday. There's one problem with that, says a University of Toronto scientist: the only truly reliable test for marijuana impairment requires a sample of the stoner's brain. "If you want to get the amount of marijuana that's affecting behaviour, you really need a sample from the brain, and you'll not get a lot of co-operation for that," Dr. Alison Smiley said yesterday. Smiley, who has conducted numerous field experiments on the effects of things like shiftwork, medical conditions, alcohol and drugs on human performance, published a paper in 1999 concluding weed-stoned drivers are impaired, but they drive more carefully as a result. "When you look at crash responsibility studies, you don't see a big increase in the likelihood of being responsible for a crash when you've been consuming marijuana," she said. A Dutch study for the U.S. Department of Transportation in 1993 administered driving tests to stoned and drunk drivers in a series of controlled experiments. The pot smokers all passed. At a joint press conference in Ottawa yesterday, Mothers Against Drunk Driving, the Canadian Professional Police Association and the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police urged the government to give police more authority to detect and charge impaired drivers before drug possession laws are relaxed. "It is a recipe for trouble on our roads, and MPs need to delay this bill until the proper public safeguards are in place," said MADD national director Andrew Murie. Police can pinpoint a driver's alcohol level, but there's no roadside reefer-screening device. Acting Sgt. Conrad Moschansky, the only Edmonton city cop trained in "drug recognition," administers a 45-minute series of interviews and physical tests on drivers suspected of pot impairment. "It's getting very common. We're seeing it at checkstops all the time," Moschansky said yesterday. His work is hampered because there's no legislation allowing him to compel suspected stoners to submit to the tests, he said. - --- MAP posted-by: Larry Seguin