POLICE CAN BUST DRIVERS HIGH ON DRUGS

Officers Have The Right To Demand Blood, Urine Or Saliva Samples

The stroke of midnight Tuesday delivered new enforcement powers into
police hands as a controversial law to bust drivers who are high on
drugs came into effect across Canada.

Under the new legislation, officers now have the right to demand
blood, urine or saliva samples from suspected drug-impaired drivers,
something they could previously obtain only voluntarily.

Drivers who refuse to comply will now be subject to a minimum $1,000
fine, the same as the penalty for refusing a breathalyzer.

Crown counsel Roger Cutler, who oversees impaired driving
prosecutions in the province, said the legislation -- passed this
year after five years of intense debate in Parliament -- is long
overdue because too many drug-impaired drivers are escaping
unpunished at a time when their numbers are climbing.

"British Columbia has been pushing for this since the mid-1990s," Cutler said.

But critics say the legislation is unnecessary, and likely to result
in costly legal challenges by those who feel their constitutional
protection against unreasonable search and seizure has been violated.

"We don't like to see anybody drinking or drugging and driving," said
John Conroy, a criminal defence lawyer based in Abbotsford who
specializes in marijuana cases.

But, he added, "Usually the area that we have the greatest
expectation to privacy is our bodies."

Beginning today, drivers suspected of being high will be required to
perform physical tests at the side of the road, such as walking a
straight line. If they fail, they will be sent to the police station
for further tests by a trained drug recognition expert, who will be
watching for both visual and physical clues to impairment.

If they fail the second test, the driver can then be forced to give
blood, urine or saliva samples.

Critics say research is lacking to equate drug quantity and impairment.

Another potential problem in testing bodily fluids is that they can
detect marijuana smoked several days or weeks earlier, whose effects
will have worn off.

"People like that are going to come off hot on the tests, but it's
not a reflection on their ability to drive," said Conroy.

Cutler said the legislation already includes safeguards against such
abuses, such as mandating that a physical test for impairment be
completed prior to issuing a bodily fluid demand.

"If we don't have the two [test results] then we don't charge," he said.

About 6,500 impaired cases head to court every year in B.C.
Currently, less than one per cent of those are drug-impaired cases.

But that number does not reflect the size of the drug-impaired
driving problem in the province, said Cutler. According to statistics
gathered by police from 24-hour driving prohibitions, approximately
one-third of suspected impaired drivers are high on drugs.

The RCMP trained 132 officers in 2007 as drug recognition experts,
with another 192 expected to be certified this year.

According to information provided by police, officers must pass eight
exams and two practical tests in order to be certified.