OTTAWA PUSHES DRUG-DRIVING BILL FORWARD

OTTAWA - The Martin government will introduce one of its first new
pieces of legislation on Monday -- a bill to help police nab Canadians
who take drugs and drive.

The initiative, which would suffer a quick death if a federal election
is called this spring, is considered necessary in light of proposed
legislation to decriminalize marijuana.

The drug-driving bill is Justice Minister Irwin Cotler's first
original legislative endeavour since assuming his portfolio in December.

"The minister believes that drug-impaired driving is a serious problem
and justifies changes to our laws to fight it," said Cotler's
spokeswoman, Denise Rudnicki.

While it is illegal to drive while under the influence of drugs, there
has been no reliable test for measuring drug impairment.

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

Under a federal plan, the government would train police officers
across Canada to become experts in recognizing physiological symptoms
of impairment and then allow them to conduct physical tests at the
roadside.

If a suspect fails -- and it is determined he or she is not alcohol
impaired -- police could proceed to the next stage of saliva testing.
The procedure could then move to the police station, where police
could demand blood or urine samples.

Police currently rely on a driver's behaviour and witnesses to
determine drug use. Officers in B.C. are trained to administer
roadside tests, but there is no law that forces drivers to comply.

Lawyers say the new federal proposals are overly intrusive and they
give police too much subjective leeway. They say this will virtually
guarantee a barrage of Charter-of-Rights court challenges.

The Canadian Bar Association, in a submission to the government,
advocates developing more solid and objective tests for a couple of
drugs -- along with a legal limit -- instead of trying to create a
questionable one-size-fits-all testing scheme.

The bar association cautions against rushing into legislation.

But Conservative justice critic Vic Toews says he thinks drug-driving
legislation can survive a constitutional challenge in Canada because
it has already done so in the U.S.

"If you're going to decriminalize marijuana and there's going to be an
expanded use of marijuana, we want to see more effective roadside
screening," said Toews. "I'm not sure whether this is the appropriate
mechanism, but I'm certainly supportive of efforts to detect drivers
who are intoxicated by drugs,"

The decriminalization bill, a leftover from the Chretien era, is in
its final stages in the House of Commons.