TORIES SET TO TARGET DRIVERS ON DRUGS

Bill Pledged This Month

The Conservative government will introduce legislation this month to
crack down on drivers who get behind the wheel while high on drugs,
Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced yesterday.

The bill will increase penalties for drugged drivers, provide police
with more tools to detect when motorists are high, and promote
increased awareness of the problem, the prime minister said.

"When most Canadians think of impaired driving, they think of drunk
driving," Harper said. "But increasingly, police have to contend with
drug-impaired driving: operating a vehicle while under the influence
of narcotics. Just like a drunk driver, a drug-impaired driver
presents a danger, to himself or herself and to others."

The legislation, to be introduced when the House of Commons returns
from its Remembrance Day break, will also "strengthen presumptions"
of breath and blood tests for drug-impaired drivers, although testing
for drug impairment in Canada is currently problematic.

"There are technological challenges in terms of testing for certain
kinds of drugs," Harper acknowledged. "(But) there are things we can
do, and will be doing, and work will continue on the development of
technology as well."

Mothers Against Drunk Driving officials noted there are a number of
reliable drug tests now in use in the United States that could be
easily adopted in Canada under the proposed bill.

MADD Canada chief executive officer Andy Murie said just announcing
the proposed legislation will have a chilling effect on people who
use drugs and drive. "It has a great deterrence effect, just making
this public," he said.

He said drug-impaired drivers are a serious problem on Canadian
roads, citing a study in Quebec that suggested up to 20 per cent of
impaired drivers had been stopped while under the influence of some
kind of illicit drug.

"There could be hundreds of thousands of drivers out there who are
impaired by drug use," Murie said.

Harper made the announcement flanked by Senator Marjory LeBreton, a
longtime supporter of MADD whose daughter and grandson were killed by
a drunk driver 10 years ago. She called the announcement "gratifying."

"It's an emotional day, but it's a very rewarding day as well ...
that there's actually now a meaningful effort not only on driving
while drunk but also on driving while impaired by drugs."

Harper called on opposition parties to speed passage of the
legislation, which he said would make Canadian roads safer. "This is
only contentious legislation if you don't really want to pass it in
the first place and that's the problem with the opposition."

Liberal associate justice critic Brian Murphy said his party will
support the bill, meaning it should pass in the House of Commons."We
look forward to receiving the bill and we're in favour of it," he said.

The former Liberal government introduced a bill on drug-impaired
driving in 2004, just before the federal election, but it was never
enacted into law.