TORIES CONSIDER ANOTHER PUSH AT ROADSIDE DRUG TESTING

Two Previous Gov't Attempts Failed

OTTAWA - The federal Tory government is considering reviving a failed
bill from the Liberal era that would impose roadside tests to catch
people driving under the influence of drugs.

"We've talked about the issue and dealing with it in some way, shape,
or form," Mike Storeshaw, a spokesman for Justice Minister Vic Toews,
told CanWest News Service.

Storeshaw confirmed the prospect after members of Mothers Against
Drunk Driving met with Toews on Monday to push for stiffer penalties
against impaired drivers.

Storeshaw could not specify when a bill would come forward, but he
said it will not happen before Parliament breaks for the summer later
this month.

Andrew Murie, chief executive officer of MADD, said he expects that
legislation to detect drug use would permit police to conduct a five-
to six-minute battery of tests at roadside by doing such things as
checking blood pressure, eye pupils and co-ordination.

If an officer concludes drugs are in play, the driver would then be
required to undergo further testing at the police station, including
surrendering a blood sample.

"Once the public becomes aware that police officers can do this test,
they'll separate using drugs and driving a motor vehicle," predicted
Murie.

MADD released a poll Monday showing that 81 per cent of Canadians
favour expanding police powers to test for drug-impaired driving. The
telephone survey of 1,001 Canadians, conducted by SES Research May
5-9, has a margin of error of 3.1 per cent, 19 times in 20.

The group also wants the government to craft a new law that would
lower the legal blood alcohol limit to .05 from the current .08.

Storeshaw said there are no plans for the government to bring forward
legislation on that front.

Murie said that changing the law would mean that a 200-pound man could
drink four beers in two hours before reaching the legal limit, as
opposed to about six drinks under the current Criminal Code level. A
140-pound woman, he said, could consume about two drinks instead of
nearly four.

Statistics indicate that a revamped law would significantly lower the
number of accidents caused by drinking drivers, he said.

Most provinces and territories -- with the exception of Alberta,
Quebec and the Yukon -- already suspend driving licences for up to 24
hours from people caught with a blood alcohol level of .05 or higher,
according to tables compiled for the Canada Safety Council.

Saskatchewan uses a cut-off of .04.

But Murie said brief licence suspensions are not enough and Ottawa
must impose the deterrent of criminal penalties in order to change
behaviour.

The Canada Safety Council opposes a change to the Criminal Code,
saying Ottawa should focus its energy on educating drinkers who
consume more alcohol than the current legal limit because they are the
ones most likely to cause motor vehicle accidents.

"The council's position is that overuse of the Criminal Code would
compromise the effectiveness of regulations which have contributed to
Canada's impressive progress in the fight against impaired driving,"
the group said in a news release earlier this month.

The council also questions legislation to detect drug-impaired
driving, maintaining that the issue raises several complex questions,
including which drugs would be on the police testing list, how police
would differentiate between legal and illegal drugs, and how lawmakers
would deal with the fact that some drugs can be detected in the body
long after their effect has worn off.

The Martin Liberal government made two attempts at a law to force
drug-impaired driving suspects to undergo testing, but both bills were
killed by the previous two federal election calls.

Opponents warned at the time that the legislation would invite
constitutional challenges from people who felt it was overly intrusive.

The main complaints were that the roadside tests are lengthy and weak
because they are based on police observation and, therefore, do not
have the scientific weight of a breathalyser.

Unlike drunk driving, in which there is a measurable link between
blood alcohol levels, research is lacking to equate drug quantity and
impairment.