DRIVER DRUG TEST A TASSIE BREAKTHROUGH

A GROUND-BREAKING test developed by a Tasmanian scientist will be the
centrepiece of a trial research program to check drug levels in road
accident victims.

Government Analytical and Forensic Laboratory scientist Kathryn Campbell
has developed a drug-screening test which checks for a larger number of
drugs, more quickly than previous tests.

"In the past tests had to be presumptive," Dr Campbell said yesterday.

"You would say, 'maybe there was cannabis or some other drug present and
test specifically for that drug'.

"The tests required quite a bit of blood and because of the time and cost,
tests were usually only done for the seven or eight most likely drugs. "Now
we can, with only 2ml of blood, test for more than 100 drugs at the same
time."

Dr Campbell's test has already been adopted in other states.

State Government Minister David Llewellyn yesterday said the Motor Accident
Insurance Board and the federal Office of Road Safety had made a grant of
$157,500 for a two-year trial to check the levels of illicit drugs and
prescription and over-the-counter medicines found in the blood of people
injured in road crashes in Tasmania.

"Alcohol is still far and away the leading substance contributing to road
accidents," Dr Campbell said.

"Cannabis is the next most common drug found and then things like
anti-depressants, opiates and anti-psychotics.

"We believe these are at a much lower level of involvement but this study
will give us some baseline data on levels of these drugs.

"More importantly it will show whether they are a significant factor as
drugs in combination with alcohol."

Mr Llewellyn said similar studies were being done nationally to
"statistically determine whether drugs have a causal role in road traffic
accidents".

He said funding had been used to buy a gas chromatograph-mass spectrometer,
used to conduct the test.

A forensic scientist has been hired for two years to do the technical work
for the study.

Dr Campbell said if the study did show a causal link between drugs and road
accidents it could lead to a different strategy in public education to
combat the road toll.

"Many medications that can affect people with things like drowsiness,
already carry warning labels advising against using them and then driving,"
she said.

"This research will show us what, if any, illicit and legal drugs are
causing problems, and whether it is the use of those drugs by themselves or
in combination with other things that poses the real risk."