DRUGS, DRIVING AND THE ROLE OF THE LAW

AS with drink, so with drugs. There is no excuse for anyone who attempts to
drive under the influence of alcohol or of narcotics. Anything that assists
the police in catching such people is to be welcomed.

The problem hitherto has been that no simple and effective test has existed
for drugged drivers. Under existing rules officers who believe a motorist
is under the influence of a drug have to arrest suspects before escorting
them to a police station and asking for a blood or urine sample.
Undoubtedly this has meant that some drug users have escaped and that there
have been more accidents than there might have been. New road-side devices
to be tested by four police forces, including Strathclyde, should remedy
that situation.

Nevertheless, it is open to question whether this should mean an increase
in random testing. The legal position affecting drugs and alcohol is
different. It is not against the law to use or possess alcohol, only to
attempt to drive with too much of it in one's bloodstream.

Drugs falling within defined classifications, in contrast, are simply
illegal. Equally, traces of drugs such as cannabis stay in the bloodstream
for much longer than alcohol. Thus it is possible that random tests will
catch out someone who is driving perfectly well but who may have smoked
cannabis a fortnight previously. In other words, a road safety campaign
will become confused, to say the least, with action against drugs.

What of it? Drugs are illegal, are they not? Yet surely the reason for
sanctioning yet another intrusion on civil liberties - think of all the
perfectly ordinary people inconvenienced or embarrassed at the roadsides
- -is to crack down on driving under the influence. Are we really to expend a
large amount of police resources in order to discover that someone has used
cannabis 30 days ago - as is medically possible? Surely impairment through
drug use while driving should be the only point in this case?

Parameters must be set for the police, in other words. Safe motoring, not
the general problem of drug use, should be their immediate concern on the
roads. The wider issue needs to be addressed by the Government, which has
been slow to do so in any realistic fashion. Indeed, we commend a committee
of the House of Lords for having the courage to take on an inquiry that
should properly be dealt with by a Royal Commission. With luck, the
Government will take the hint.