DRIVERS TARGETS OF DRUG TESTS

Quebec's automobile-insurance board is conducting an unprecedented study to
see whether there's a link between drug use and motor-vehicle accidents.

And while advocates agree it is important research that has rarely been done
before, civil-liberties lawyer Julius Grey said yesterday the methods used
to conduct the survey appear to be illegal.

"It's the first of its kind in Canada," said Rock Tremblay, a spokesman for
the Societe de l'Assurance Automobile du Quebec.

It might be the first of its kind because it appears no legal mechanism
exists that would permit it to be done.

Since July 23, the SAAQ has set up random checkpoints in different parts of
the province where drivers are asked by a police officer to pull over.

A representative of the insurance board then asks the driver whether he or
she wants to volunteer a saliva or urine sample. The driver can say no and
simply drive away.

Participants are informed that they will not be penalized for whatever their
test reveals. However, if it is determined that a driver is heavily
impaired, an SAAQ representative drives the person home.

"We tell people that we're doing a study and that the information is kept
confidential," Tremblay said. "No sanctions are levied against the participant."

The SAAQ plans to continue the study until the end of autumn and will weigh
the information against another study started in April in which the body of
every driver killed in a traffic accident is being tested by the province
for the presence of drugs or alcohol.

The provincial government might use the findings as the basis to change
legislation.

On Aug. 9, an officer from the Sherbrooke regional police force stood on the
main street in Lennoxville randomly selecting drivers and, using hand
signals, directing them to a parking lot where they were interviewed by
representatives of the SAAQ.

In most cases, the drivers simply turned in to the parking lot without
question. Others asked why but were told that the SAAQ testers would explain.

Lawyer Grey said police are not empowered to stop people at random.

"The idea of simply stopping people and asking them to pull over and do this
as is bad as if the police were to stop people and ask, 'Would you like to
contribute to a police charity?'

"You are not allowed to do that, however laudable your purpose."

However, Grey said it is unlikely anyone would challenge the practice
because challenges of that nature are usually brought to court by people
questioning the way in which evidence against them was obtained.

"It has been clearly established that the police must have a reason
connected with the way a person drives, and they can't stop people at
random. It is not illegal for the police to ask someone they've pulled over
to participate in an additional test."

Grey said the situation is not comparable to a roadblock used to get
impaired drivers off the road.

Police at a roadblock will randomly stop cars but also interview the drivers
and ask them to pull over only if they suspect they are impaired.

Tremblay played down the police role in the study.

"The police officers don't have a big role in this," he said. "They will
stop people and ask them to pull over to a secondary road. They are just
handling traffic. They don't have a coercive role."

The study is being conducted in all regions of Quebec, including Montreal,
but the SAAQ will issue no advance warning.

"We want it to be as realistic as possible," Tremblay said. "We don't want
people to be prepared."

The SAAQ is conducting the study because while the impact of alcohol on
driving is well known, little is known about the effects of both legal and
illegal drugs.

Last September, the SAAQ conducted a pilot study involving 243 people to
test the methods of the current survey. Out of that sample 30 people were
found to have consumed alcohol, 21 had consumed drugs and six were found to
have used a combination of both.

The study did not indicate whether people were legally impaired, and no
distinction was made between whether the drugs were legal or illegal.

Richard Garlick, director of communications for the Canadian Centre on
Substance Abuse, agreed there is precious little information available on
the effect of drugs on a person's ability to drive.

He said the SAAQ study will be significant because it has not been done
before in Canada. He also said he was surprised the board had found a way to
test drivers.

"One of the areas that we don't know anything about is how many accidents
are caused by cannabis in Canada," he said. "I believe there's a lot of
anecdotal evidence that the figure is quite high."

A section of the centre's just-released study - titled Canadian Profile:
Alcohol, Tobacco and Other Drugs - analyzes the few studies done on
marijuana use and its effect on driving. It concluded that marijuana does
impair driving behaviour.

But, unlike the alcohol-impaired driver, the marijuana user realizes he is
impaired and might compensate by slowing down.