DRIVERS 'WHACKED' ON DRUGS

VICTORIA - It's not just drunk drivers that Vancouver Island police
say they've been catching this holiday season. Increasingly, people
behind the wheel are high on some sort of drug as well.

So much so that police in Saanich weren't surprised to see a man
recently drive to a roadblock with a joint hanging out of his mouth.
He'd tried to finish it before he reached the officers, but apparently
didn't make it in time.

The night the man and his unfinished marijuana cigarette rolled
through the roadblock, Dec. 18, police issued the same number of
24-hour licence suspensions for drivers high on drugs as they did for
drivers drunk on alcohol.

They also caught a woman who was "absolutely whacked" on drugs and who
was found nodding off while driving and slumped over the steering
wheel just up the street from where officers were running their
roadblock, said Staff Sgt. Mike Irwin, who coordinates roadblocks for
police in Saanich.

"Predominant is the alcohol," said Irwin. "It just hits you, the
smell. Unless you have guys opening up the window after smoking a
fatty. It's far more difficult to establish whether they're [drug]
impaired."

The federal government introduced a bill in November that would let
police demand roadside sobriety tests and body-fluid samples from
drivers suspected of drug impairment. It also raises minimum fines and
jail time for driving while impaired by drugs.