NO RELIABLE TEST FOR 'STONED' DRIVERS

Motorists 'stoned' on cannabis can not be reliably tested for the drug and
the only real chance of catching them is if they drive badly, according to
Transport Minister Mark Gosche.

On a day when Police Minister George Hawkins delivered a staunch
anti-cannabis speech, Mr Gosche's answer to a parliamentary question said it
would be expensive and difficult for police to catch drivers 'stoned' on
cannabis.

There was no reliable test for the drug, or a well-defined threshold for
cannabis levels, he said.

"The only method currently available for picking up drugged drivers on the
road requires the observation of aberrant driving behaviours."

Mr Gosche's view was shared by police and the Land Transport Authority. Both
authorities said catching "stoned" drivers was problematic and expensive.

National road safety manager Superintendent Steve Fitzgerald said yesterday
police were set to review attitudes to cannabis use as the debate "hotted
up".

He said it was difficult for police to isolate the effects of alcohol and
cannabis. "You could argue that alcohol excites people ... one Australian
study found that people who had been smoking cannabis are the people who hug
the kerbs and are actually going slower."

Officers enforced current laws, but the cannabis debate had flared up and
could force police to clarify their policy, he said.

"I think police are generally reviewing their attitudes towards cannabis use
and I think there's a lot of government departments in the same position"

Meanwhile yesterday, Mr Hawkins reinforced his anti-cannabis stance, telling
a Wellington neighbourhood watch meeting he was "fervently opposed" to
decriminalisation.

A Government plan to review the legal status of cannabis has stalled, with
Prime Minister Helen Clark saying it is a low priority.

Mr Hawkins said he opposed softening cannabis laws because the drug was
peddled by gangs.

"Each drag on a joint supports a. history of violence, a history of
killings, of lost ambition, of pain that has occurred in the name of
cannabis and other drugs," he said.

But he did raise concern that a cannabis conviction haunted users for life
and could affect job and travel plans.

"We ought to look at this," he said.