Pubdate: Mon, 18 Jul 2016
Source: Ottawa Citizen (CN ON)
Copyright: 2016 Postmedia Network Inc.
Contact:  http://www.ottawacitizen.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/326
Author: Paula McCooey
Page: A5

DRUGS, DRIVING AND TODAY'S LAW

Police believe incidents of driving while drugged will rise once
marijuana is legalized, writes Paula McCooey

As pot dispensaries become more prevalent in Ottawa, there is growing
concern about people driving while high.

In May, Canada's leading drive-safe group held a series of meetings
with new members of Parliament to discuss what it calls the need to
implement better roadside-testing technology before legislation to
legalize marijuana is passed.

Mothers Against Drunk Driving appealed to the government to do away
with current drug-recognition evaluations, and implement "drug wipe"
roadside saliva tests, similar to breathalyzer tests that detect
alcohol, to tell on the spot whether a driver is impaired by drugs.

While MADD believes the current system is time-consuming and yields
few charges, the system must be followed, says Sgt. John Kiss of
Ottawa Police's impaired driving countermeasures department.

Kiss helps shed light on what police believe will be a growing
problem, and what drivers should expect if an officer pulls them over:

Q How would driving while high affect a person's driving?

A Whether it's alcohol, cannabis or cocaine, the central nervous
system will be affected. Everything from your reaction time, your
depth perception, peripheral vision, all these things are affected .
. You shouldn't be driving because you don't have your faculties,
and driving is something that requires the combination of all of these
faculties together and requires your undivided attention.

Q If a driver is suspected of being stoned, what is the charge? And
when did that charge first come into effect?

A It has always been a crime to drive while impaired, whether because
of alcohol or drugs. However, in 2008 the Criminal Code of Canada was
amended to give officers the authority to demand motorists suspected
of being high submit to standardized physical tests required to
determine drug impairment specifically.

Before (2008) we couldn't demand that, we could only make observations
and then report those to the courts. And then it would be up to the
courts to employ a crystal ball, so to speak, to determine whether the
person was actually impaired by drugs or not.

Q. What do these tests involve?

A The drug identification expert checks pupils, pupils' reaction to
light, skin condition, how muscles react, blood pressure, pulse - all
these things are measured and they form a matrix they can go through
and plug in all these physical symptoms to determine the one or
combination of the seven classes of drugs.

The officer will then require a driver to submit a urine test at the
station. Lab results will not be able to determine the amount of the
drug in the system, just validate whether drugs were present.

Q What if the driver doesn't want to submit a urine
sample?

A The Criminal Code states the driver would be charged under section
254 (5) for refusal or failure to comply with the officer's demand to
provide a breath, blood or urine sample. The penalty ranges from
$1,000 to $5,000, and 30 days to 18 months in jail.

If they absolutely refuse to accompany the officer then they would
still be taken to the station to be released on various conditions by
the officer in charge of the cell-block. They would face criminal
charges of impaired driving and failing or refusing to submit to the
DRE examination. The (charges) are equally serious and they can be
convicted of both.

Q Alcohol can be measured but how are drugs measured?

A Drug impairment is gauged through the officer's testing, and the
driver simply has to appear impaired. But there's no benchmark.

You can have an illicit drug or a prescription drug or alcohol in your
system, that doesn't mean you can't drive a motor vehicle. It's just
that you can't drive if impaired.

Q Does driving while high on medicinal marijuana absolve people from
charges?

A We don't differentiate. Just because you've got a medicinal
marijuana card, it doesn't mean you can drive around stoned. We don't
care whether they have a card or not - they are dealt with just like
any other impaired driver.

It's like having an oxycodone prescription; that doesn't mean you can
take six of them and drive around stoned. So they've got to manage it
and hopefully the medical professional who prescribed the marijuana
warned them that they can't drive and use this, any more than they can
after using some other prescription drug. So we don't differentiate at
all. It's not a get-out-of-jail-free card.

Q Do you believe incidents of drugged driving will increase with new
marijuana laws?

A If you look at places like Colorado and Washington state, where
they've legalized it as far back as 2012, they are now dealing with
the social costs of that. The impaired driving and the fatalities have
increased. The advice we are hearing from them is that we should not
be legalizing any of this unless we have the proper legislative and
enforcement framework in place because once it's legalized, it's too
late to be playing catchup. I think the government is understanding
that.

Q Could the increase in incidents just be a phase in the beginning?
Perhaps once people understand the social ramifications, incidents
will decline.

A No ... it's been said many times before, drugs, specifically
cannabis, is at the same place we were 50 years ago with alcohol. The
social norms have not been established yet and people just don't
realize how dangerous it is - and how super-dangerous it is when you
mix drugs with alcohol and then drive.
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MAP posted-by: Matt