FERRY CHIEF CALLS FOR MANDATORY DRUG TESTS

Some Crew On Queen Of The North Regular Pot Users, Safety Board Says

VICTORIA -- BC Ferries president David Hahn is calling for mandatory
drug testing in the transportation industry after a safety board
report revealed that some crew members aboard the ill-fated Queen of
the North regularly smoked marijuana on and off the ship.

"Public safety over human rights," Hahn said.

He urged the Transportation Safety Board to recommend to the federal
transport minister that all ferry operators in Canada be given powers
to conduct mandatory drug and alcohol testing on all employees in
safety-sensitive positions.

Drug and alcohol testing are both mandatory and random in the U.S.
transportation industry, he said in a Wednesday news release, adding
that given the TSB's conclusion, similar legislation is needed in Canada.

In the meantime, Hahn said he'll "push the envelope" to better
enforce the company's zero-tolerance policy for illicit use of drugs
and alcohol.

As part of its investigation into the Queen of the North sinking in
March 2006 in which 99 passengers and crew were rescued and two
passengers died, the safety board found crew members admitted they
"regularly smoked cannabis between shifts, both on board and off the vessel."

The safety board's report, issued Wednesday, said there's no evidence
crew on the bridge when the ferry rammed into Gil Island were
impaired by drugs.

"Ferry crews whose performance is impaired by cannabis are a clear
risk to the travelling public," said Wendy Tadros, safety board chairwoman.

"We are confident that BC Ferries will determine the extent of the
problem and effectively manage this risk so it will not lead to a
serious accident."

Cannabis, a hallucinogenic, can impair memory, attention, information
processing, multi-tasking, and depth perception, said Scott
Macdonald, assistant director at the Centre for Addictions Research B.C.

"Cannabis use has been shown to affect the ability to quickly react
to complex or unexpected scenarios," the safety board report stated.
The impact of a single dose of marijuana is greatest during the
initial "high" after which the impairment reduces but may last 24 hours

Both Jackie Miller, president of the B.C. Ferry and Marine Workers'
Union, and Hahn agree there is an industry-wide concern about
impairment issues and that the company and union are working to
create policies to ensure rules around substance use are better
followed and enforced.

It's important to note that the safety board doesn't distinguish
whether the number of crew members smoking up means two, five or 20
people, Miller said.

In context, she said, drug and alcohol use and abuse occurs
throughout Canadian society and it would be "irrational and
illogical" to suggest the BC Ferries' 4,500 crew would not be a
percentage of that national figure.

The Queen of the North saga is always portrayed in the media as "a
sex, drugs and rock and roll kind of thing," Miller said.

"It's a titillating interesting item that has arisen in the course of
the [safety board] interviews but we would misrepresent the truth if
we were to suggest this is only a Queen of the North/BC Ferries
issue," Miller said.

"There are people throughout employment organizations who regularly
partake in cannabis use," she said. "This isn't just a BC Ferries
problem so it has to be looked at in that context."

Transport Canada regulates policies to prohibit drug and alcohol use
on the job, but spokeswoman Fiona MacLeod said the federal government
would be responsible for legislating mandatory testing.

MacLeod said the ferry company can require mandatory testing, but
Miller said both the company and union have already discussed that
and found human rights provisions won't allow for it. She suggested
B.C. Transportation Minister Kevin Falcon petition the federal
government for a change if he wants it