TWO PERSPECTIVES

I am pleased that my government will soon introduce legislation to
tackle drug-impaired driving. The objective of the proposed
legislation is to avoid reckless deaths and injuries of innocent
people. Therefore, we need to target drug-impaired driving and take
any and all actions required to prevent future drug-impaired incidents.

The goal of this legislation is to make drug-impaired driving as
socially unacceptable as drunk driving has become amongst adults and
teens alike.

Under the proposed legislation, Canada's new government will: provide
police with more tools to detect drug-impaired drivers; increase
penalties for drug-impaired driving; strengthen presumptions of breath
and blood tests; and promote awareness about drug-impaired driving
with partners like MADD.

We are going to provide police and prosecutors with more tools, so
that drug-impaired drivers can more easily be detected and convicted.

Myron Thompson is the MP for Wild Rose

Re: drugged driving laws -- how can the government
justify this new affront to our civil rights and
liberties? There are no numbers to show that
there has been an `increase' in drugged driving
incidents, as no official study has ever been
done. Remember, this is the same government which
wants to `crack down' on a crime rate that has been steadily dropping.

Imagine this scenario: someone is driving around, stoned on
tranquillizers, painkillers, cold medications or some combination
thereof. The driver gets pulled over and appears -- to the police
officer -- to be visibly impaired. The driver blows zero for alcohol
and his urine and blood samples test negative for illegal drugs. That
driver is free to go and repeat the offence.

But if the driver tests positive for even trace amounts of marijuana
- -- which may show up in the body for up to three months after the last
puff, or because of secondhand smoke -- that driver will be booked for
impaired driving. This is the same as busting someone for drunk
driving three days after his or her last drink.

Clearly, this new `drugged driving' legislation is designed
specifically to profile marijuana users. How medical marijuana users
will fare is yet to be seen.

The new law will likely ignore the dangers of other impairment factors
- -- such as: coffee or cigarette or cell phone in hand; rowdy pets and
passengers; booming stereos; over-the-counter and prescription
medications; blood sugar imbalances; fatigue; inexperience; bad
driving habits; old age; and just plain old stupidity. To focus on any
one thing is arbitrary and discriminatory. And that is exactly what
this new law will do.

It won't matter if the driver is tripling his or her dose of a
prescription medication, but if marijuana shows up in your blood, you
are considered guilty until proven innocent. So much for Canada being
a `just' society.

Russell Barth, of Ottawa, is a federal medical marijuana licence
holder.