Pubdate: Fri, 28 Sep 2012
Source: StarPhoenix, The (CN SN)
Copyright: 2012 The StarPhoenix
Contact: http://www.canada.com/saskatoonstarphoenix/letters.html
Website: http://www.canada.com/saskatoonstarphoenix/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/400
Author: Douglas Quan

REPORT DETAILS ENFORCEMENT SHORTFALLS

New measures given to police a few years ago to go after drug 
impaired drivers have turned out to be "cumbersome, time-consuming, 
expensive" and vulnerable to court challenges, according to a new 
report by the advocacy group MADD Canada.

The report obtained by Postmedia News also says even though hundreds 
of police officers across the country have been trained in techniques 
for evaluating drivers suspected of drug impairment, the law remains 
"grossly underenforced."

A spokeswoman for Justice Minister Rob Nicholson said Thursday the 
government looks forward to reviewing the report and monitoring 
developments in this area.

"Our Conservative government takes impaired driving very seriously. 
This is why we took action to protect the lives of innocent Canadians 
from those who drive under the influence of drugs and alcohol," Julie 
Di Mambro said. "We increased the penalties for impaired driving 
while giving police better tools to detect and investigate drug- and 
alcohol-impaired driving."

In a recent interview, senior RCMP officials told Postmedia News that 
the current approach to combating drug-impaired driving has seen a 
"lot of success" and that they plan to ramp up training in the coming year.

In 2008, a change to the Criminal Code gave police new powers to 
demand physical co-ordination tests, also known as field sobriety 
tests, and drug evaluations from drivers they suspected of being 
impaired by drugs.

But the MADD report, prepared by University of Western Ontario law 
professors Robert Solomon and Erika Chamberlain, says even though 
about 800 officers in Canada have undergone training to become 
certified drug recognition evaluators, the number of people who have 
actually been charged with drug-impaired driving remains small.

In 2010, according to the report, 915 people were charged with drug 
impaired driving nationwide, representing only 1.4 per cent of the 
total number of impaired-driving charges laid.

"Even if drug-impaired driving charges tripled, it would still 
constitute less than five per cent of the total impaired driving 
charges," the report states.

The authors also point out that there is currently no way to know how 
many drivers charged with drug impairment were actually convicted. 
Statistics Canada does not track that information.

There have been several cases in which judges have acquitted drivers, 
raising questions about the effectiveness of current law enforcement 
techniques, critics say.

Just last month, a judge in Saskatchewan acquitted a driver who 
admitted using marijuana before getting behind the wheel and who 
bungled a number of physical coordination tests.

The judge said even though evidence presented in court showed that 
the accused had used marijuana before being stopped and that a urine 
test later confirmed marijuana in her system, police and prosecutors 
failed to convince him that "at the time she was driving, her ability 
operate a motor vehicle was impaired by marijuana."

"This case and others that adopt a similar approach do not augur well 
for drug-impaired driving prosecutions," the MADD report states, 
adding that future court cases will likely be more contentious if 
prosecutors have to call on experts each time to explain how the 
presence of a drug in a driver's system caused that person to be 
impaired while they drove.
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