DRUG-DRIVE WARNING FOR CLUBBERS

One in 10 Scots under the age of 40 has driven under the influence of
drugs, according to a new study.

And a second report has suggested that most clubbers do not think
cannabis has any effect on their driving abilities.

The studies found that drug-driving was widespread among Scottish
clubbers, with cannabis the most commonly used drug.

Now First Minister Henry McLeish has sanctioned an education
initiative about the dangers of driving under the influence.

He told students at Edinburgh University that it was "startling" that
an estimated 50 people had been killed in road accidents in 1999 as a
result of drug-taking.

He visited the university's Potterrow student union with transport
minister Sarah Boyack following the publication of the two new
research projects.

The first study, by System Three Social Research, found that 9% of
those questioned had driven under the influence of drugs at some
time, with cannabis the most common substance.

It said men and people aged between 20 and 24 were significantly more
likely to drive while under the influence.

The second survey, by the Centre for Drug Misuse Research at the
University of Glasgow, found that drug-driving was widespread among
clubbers.

It said most believed that cannabis had no effect on their driving
abilities, and that many had little knowledge of the law.

Nearly 20% of those killed in road accidents in the UK showed traces
of illegal drugs - a sixfold increase in four years.

If those figures were applied to Scotland, it would give a death toll
of 50 during 1999.

Mr McLeish urged the students to consider the consequences of such
behaviour and described the statistics as "alarming".

"What is really important is that the police have no powers to stop
people for drugs, and the equipment for that has to be very
sophisticated," he said.

Further Research

Mr McLeish said legislation was a matter for Westminster.

Ms Boyack and the Department of Transport would now be looking at the
statistics to see whether further research was required, he said.

"But equally important is whether there should be changes to the
legislation so that we start early to address this issue rather than
having to continue for years and years without it being shown the
importance and urgency it deserves."

He added that it was also important that young people themselves
changed their attitudes towards drug driving.

University student Deborah Gostling, 23, who is currently on a
sabbatical, said it was important to distinguish between drug taking
and drug driving.

And geography student Callum Lee, 21, from Oxford, said that drug
driving was probably a bigger problem than most people realised.

He admitted he had been in a car with a driver who was on drugs.

"Personally I didn't find it the most-relaxing thing, but there's
quite a lot of peer pressure," he said.

A drug-driving offence carries a minimum 12-month disqualification
period, with the possibility of a £35,000 fine and a six-month prison
sentence.