CRACKDOWN ON DRUGS AND DRIVING

Bill To Give Police Power To Charge Those Suspected Of Being High

HIGH times behind the wheel could soon be over.

The Harper government's Bill C-2, currently before the Senate, will
give police the power to charge people with impaired driving who are
suspected of being high on marijuana, cocaine and other drugs.

Police and anti-impaired-driving advocates say the law should be in
effect by this summer. It's aimed at young drivers who think driving
high on pot or other drugs isn't as bad as drinking and driving.

"A lot of people have this Cheech and Chong mentality and think they
can drive better while under the influence of cannabis," MADD chief
executive officer Andrew Murie said. "But they are severely impaired.
They're putting themselves and other people at risk."

What's the new law about?

Winnipeg police Patrol Sgt. Rob Riffel said it gives officers the
authority to order suspected impaired drivers to do a standardized
roadside or field sobriety test.

The test doesn't measure drug impairment; it instead reveals signs of
impairment like an inability of a drugged-up driver to follow an
object with their eyes or perform a basic physical test, like
balancing on one foot.

Riffel said if the suspect fails the field test, the new law then
gives the officer the power to demand a urine, saliva or blood test. A
body fluid test would show which drug the person had consumed. Refusal
to submit to a test would result in a criminal charge, much like what
happens now when a drunk driver refuses to blow into a breathalyser
machine.

"It gives us another tool to take impaired drivers off the highways,"
RCMP Sgt. Wayne Blackmore added.

How soon will police start doing field sobriety tests?

They do them now in many provinces, including Manitoba. But what's
been missing is making it a criminal offence, treating drugged driving
the same as drunk driving under the Criminal Code of Canada.

In Manitoba, the Doer government gave police the authority to do
sobriety tests under the provincial Highway Traffic Act in 2004. It
allowed police to pull a person's driving privileges for three months
if they failed three short tests to display proper mental and physical
co-ordination.

Blackmore said C-2 takes it up a notch, so that people caught driving
under the influence of drugs are treated the same way by the courts as
drunk drivers. Bill C-2 is part of the much-debated federal Tackling
Violent Crime Act.

Murie said the other big question mark on C-2 is how soon is will
actually become law.

Although it can be easily passed by the Senate, it can also be held up
in the upper house.

"A lot of what happens in the Senate has more to do with the politics
of the day," he said.

The other black cloud for police is the possibility of a spring
federal election, which would again delay the package becoming law.
The law has been drifting around Ottawa for about seven years, but
three federal elections delayed it. C-2 being before the Senate this
month is the closest it's come to being a reality.

Why is it needed?

Politics aside, all sides agree impaired driving is a national
scourge.

Murie said an average of 1,500 Canadians are killed each year due to
the actions of an impaired driver. Nine to 12 per cent of those
drivers are high on drugs or a combination of drugs and alcohol.

By comparison, the national homicide rate is about
600.

"Impaired driving is still by far the No. 1 criminal cause of death,"
he said.

A 2006 survey by the Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse said young men
are driving under the influence of cannabis as often as, or more often
than, they drive under the influence of alcohol. Researchers said it
is not clear what impact the figures are having on crash-related death
and injury.

Riffel said so many drive high because they don't think they'll get
caught.

Riffel said about 100 police officers in Manitoba have been formally
trained in doing court-recognized field sobriety tests. Twenty
officers are also trained as being drug-recognition experts, meaning
they have the training to determine what drug you're on without you
uttering a word.

Murie said he expects once police begin enforcing the law, the true
nature of drug impairment will be revealed.

"I expect we'll be reading in the media that police are shocked at the
drug impairment numbers," he said.