CHRISTIE WAFFLES ON POT LAW

The Hamm government wants to stigmatize stoned-looking drivers with the
cops, not with insurance companies.

Service Nova Scotia Minister Peter Christie "clarified" comments yesterday
on proposed changes to the Motor Vehicle Act, saying the intent isn't to
give potheads high insurance bills.

"That notation is on your record, but it's available only to the police and
to the registrar," he told reporters.

"Those details are not available to your insurance company."

Christie said the new law would give police the right to suspend a licence
for 24 hours if they believe a driver is under the influence of a drug
other than alcohol.

Suspensions would stay on the driver's record for 10 years, but the
minister refused to say what police would do with the information.

It was a different message from the one Christie told reporters Monday
night, when he said he expected insurance companies would not only get the
information, but use it to hike premiums.

Christie said he subsequently spoke to the registrar of motor vehicles and
learned that wasn't the case. But he wouldn't say he made a mistake about
his own bill.

"I clarified that matter, and I'm clarifying it here for you today," he said.

Christie said drivers who were wrongly accused of being high would have to
plead with the registrar to have their record cleared. The onus would be on
the driver to prove innocence.

"You would write to the registrar, and the registrar would meet with you
and review over the case and deal with it appropriately," Christie said.

He said similar systems work in British Columbia, the Northwest Territories
and the Yukon.

"What we are attempting to do is make the roads as safe as possible,"
Christie said.

NDP justice critic Kevin Deveaux said the Criminal Code already includes
stringent provisions to deal with people who drive on drugs, and the
province doesn't have to enact a new law that denies citizens due process.

"The minister ... wants to be the next Marshall Dillon of Nova Scotia,"
Deveaux said. "When elections come in, he's going to clean up the streets."