DRUG-TEST DRIVER WALKS FREE

A man who became the first driver in Victoria to be accurately tested
for marijuana use after he was invoived in a fatal accident walked
free from a court yesterday.

Cameron Hilliard Brown, 20, of Scoresby Road, Ferntree Gully, was
sentenced to two years' jail, suspended for two years, and had his
licence cancelled for two years.

Brown's car crashed head-on with another car on Philip Island on 14
January 1996. The woman driving the other car was killed.

Judge Leo Hart said in his sentencing remarks yesterday that Brown
either fell asleep at the wheel or lost control. "The other driver was
in no way responsible." he said.

Brown, whom a jury found guilty of culpable driving, had an analysis
of the amount of marijuana in his blood used as evidence in his trial.

A police spokesman said yesterday that the analysis, using equipment
from South Australia, was the first time the amount of marijuana in a
person's bloodstream had been accurately measured as opposed to merely
detected, in Victoria.

But the relationship between marijuana use and driver impairment,
unlike that of alcohol and driving impairment, was still unclear, he
said.

Judge Hart said: "I do not find you were so affected by cannabis as to
lose control." He said Brown was negligent only because he was sleepy
and that his crime was "very low on the scale of culpable driving".

He said Brown had no prior convictions, came from a close, law-abiding
family, was of good character, was frank and cooperative with police
and greatly shocked by the incident.

He said that although Brown pleaded not guilty, this was
understandable given his unclear memory of the accident, in which he
was injured.

The State Government announced in September that drivers suspected of
taking drugs would be forced to give blood for testing.

Checked-by: Patrick Henry