MIXING DRIVING, OVER-THE-COUNTER DRUGS COULD BECOME ILLEGAL

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) -- Police trained to detect drugged drivers worry that
too many motorists drive with legal sedating medications, such as pain
killers, cold and flu treatments and antihistamines.

"It's one of the weaknesses in our law," said Lt. Chuck Hayes, a 24-year
Oregon State Police veteran and a drug recognition specialist.

More than 300 experts from the United States and Canada are in Portland
through Tuesday for a national conference. Joining them will be about 100
prosecutors, toxicologists and highway safety advocates.

Hayes would like to see Oregon join Washington state in adding legal drugs
to the definition of driving under the influence.

Hayes, who hopes a such a law will be passed by the next Legislature, said
the goal is not to punish people but to educate them.

An estimated 400,000 allergy sufferers live in Oregon, studies show. For
many, antihistamines alleviate sneezing and watery eyes, but they also can
cause drowsiness.

Dr. Robert Julien, an anesthesiologist at Providence St. Vincent Hospital
in Portland, said decongestants and blood pressure medication also can
cause dizziness, drowsiness and disorientation.

Julien said some medications have the opposite effect.

Anti-asthma medications can cause anxiety reactions and irritability, he
said, making overmedicated drivers could become more volatile or hyperactive.

Ruth Vandever, executive director of the Oregon Board of Pharmacy, said she
doesn't think over-the-counter drugs pose a driving hazard as long as the
consumer follows the directions on the label.

That means taking the prescribed dosage and, in many cases, not combining
the drug with other drugs or alcohol.

"I don't think it's anything where the consumer would be disabled by the
medication," Vandever said.

Julien acknowledges a lack of research on how the level of such drugs in
the blood correlates with behavior. Because of that, he doubts legislation
controlling the use of medications while driving would take hold in Oregon
immediately.

Julien noted that the use of drug recognition experts in police agencies
still is relatively new.

Twenty-five officers underwent Oregon's first training in 1995 to identify
illegally drugged individuals.

Today 120 officers have gone through the 100 hours of drug-recognition
training.

"Our goal is to have a drug recognition expert be able to respond to any
given area throughout the state at any time," he said.

Oregon law does not permit officers to require urine tests to determine
drug use. But the officers have had an 88-percent success rate in
convincing the drivers to take the test, Hayes said.

"All of this has to do with the quality of the people we have in the
program and their demeanor," Hayes said.

Methamphetamine is by far the most popular drug among Oregon drivers who do
get caught. Marijuana is second, Hayes said.

"Forty-five percent of all the urine tests that we get back show two or
more drugs in the system."

Once these expert officers have determined that a driver may be
drug-impaired, toxicology tests have proved their suspicions right 90
percent of the time, slightly better than the national average, Hayes said.

Since the program began, arrests for drug-impaired driving have increased
from 319 in 1994 to more than 700 in 1997.

Checked-by: Mike Gogulski