POLICE CALL IT THE 'POTALYSER'

OTTAWA -- Ontario traffic police frustrated by drivers they say are
dangerously impaired by marijuana are looking into a pot-equivalent of the
breathalyser, a roadside test dubbed the "potalyser."

The fledgling initiative could break new ground in efforts by Canadian
police to grapple with the thorny issue of drugged driving.

Using a small white device that resembles a lollipop, police officers could
easily find out what drugs a person had ingested before driving, said Sgt.
Al Reid of Ontario Provincial Police headquarters in Orillia.

"You'd have the driver swab around the inside of his mouth and then jam it
into the receptacle with fluid in it," he explained. "In two minutes, you'd
have an indication.

"I would envision the kit being used the same way as the approved screening
device for alcohol."

Reid obtained a trial version of a kit made by Draeger, the company that
produces the breathalyser used by provincial police, after attending an
international conference on traffic safety last year. "I've got to know
what's out there."

Traffic cops believe drivers are increasingly smoking marijuana and getting
behind the wheel, he said. While drugged driving is not a new problem, the
issue has garnered attention recently as the federal government considers
liberalizing marijuana laws by dropping criminal penalties for possession
of a small amount of cannabis.

Reid said police are frustrated because they have no way to determine how
much a driver has smoked or whether they are impaired.

For example, a driver pulled over by a spot-check program intended to catch
drunk drivers might blow zero in the breathalyser, but reek of marijuana.
That isn't enough to arrest them -- physical evidence is necessary.

But drivers shouldn't expect to take a roadside drug test any time soon.
Legislative changes, similar to laws requiring people impaired by alcohol
to give a breath sample, are needed to allow officers to demand samples for
drug evaluations.

Impaired driving charges don't usually stick in court now because it is
difficult to prove a person's driving was affected by what they smoked.

In January, Rick Reimer -- a former Ottawa lawyer who is legally permitted
to smoke pot because of his multiple sclerosis -- was acquitted on charges
of impaired driving, even though he was smoking a joint when police pulled
him over. The judge said there wasn't enough evidence to prove beyond a
reasonable doubt that Reimer was impaired.

Ronald Pon, an RCMP toxicologist at the Vancouver forensic lab, said unlike
drunk driving, in which blood alcohol level and driving ability are
directly linked, there hasn't been enough research to link the quantity of
a drug with impairment.

Research is difficult to do because people have different tolerances to
drugs -- unlike with alcohol, where everyone is impaired at a certain level
- -- and is further complicated if a person has taken more than one drug.

Pon said roadside drug tests aren't specific enough. A blood sample would
need to be drawn and analysed in the lab to confirm results.

"They aren't quantitative -- they don't measure the actual concentration.
You're either positive or you're not."

With THC, the active component in marijuana is stored in body fat and trace
amounts can appear in urine and blood samples, he said. "If you have a
positive THC in your urine, it doesn't mean it's active in your system."

Unlike provincial police in Ontario, the RCMP are not currently looking
into roadside testing devices and is, instead, expanding a program that
enables police officers to identify impaired drivers by the physiological
effects of drugs.

Nineteen police officers from across Canada graduated in January from the
drug recognition expert program, which teaches them to identify the signs
and symptoms of drug use.

The program was developed in California in the 1970s and until now British
Columbia is the only province to operate the program. Drug recognition
experts there can issue 24-hour licence suspensions to drug-impaired
drivers. They can also testify in court as expert witnesses in impaired
driving cases.

However, the same legal roadblock exists for the drug recognition expert
program as it does for any roadside test. There is no legal requirement for
drivers to take the test or give a sample of blood or urine to confirm the
results.

Eugene Oscapella, an Ottawa lawyer and a founder of the Canadian Foundation
for Drug Policy, says drivers who smoke marijuana aren't necessarily
dangerous, citing studies showing they tend to overcompensate by driving
more carefully.

A report released in September by a Senate special committee concluded that
marijuana has little effect on driving, and may even lead to a more
cautious style behind the wheel. Only when combined with alcohol is the
drug thought to make driving dangerous.

Oscapella thinks the notion of the hazardous motorist is dragged up by
opponents of marijuana decriminalization who want to alarm the public.

"When we talk about reforming the laws, this is one of the bogeymen they
bring out."