POLICE BRANDISH NEW WEAPON AGAINST IMPAIRED DRIVERS

Midland police utilized a relatively new tool in the fight against
drug-impaired driving on Sunday.

A motorist exhibiting signs of impairment pulled up to an
early-morning RIDE spot check on King Street. After ruling out
alcohol as the cause, a drug recognition officer conducted an
evaluation and determined the driver was impaired by narcotics.

Bill C-2 - the federal legislation allowing police to conduct a drug
evaluation on anyone believed to be operating a motor vehicle, vessel
or aircraft while impaired by a drug - came into effect on July 2.

"It is going to become far more popular than it is now, because we
now have the ability and the legislation to enforce those laws,"
Insp. Mike Osbourne said of the new police power.

Prior to Bill C-2, officers faced a tougher task in determining
conclusively that a motorist was high on drugs. Lacking the drug
equivalent of a roadside breathalyser test, police found it "pretty
hard to prove someone's got drugs in their system," said Osbourne.

Even if police smelled marijuana or found drug paraphernalia in the
car, he said, it was difficult to lay charges of drug-impaired
driving without strong physical signs of reduced function.

"With this new process, we can actually force the person . to do
sobriety tests for drugs," he said.

The Midland Police Service has two officers trained as drug
recognition experts. They are also qualified to teach other officers
how to administer simple roadside tests to determine drug impairment.

Osbourne said the new weapon against impaired driving is useful,
although it has been utilized often in Midland: "We've only used it a
couple of times since the legislation came in."

When MPs discussed the Tackling Violent Crime Act in October 2007,
the parliamentary secretary to the minister of justice called it an
important piece of legislation.

"Canadians expect their government to take action and to protect them
from (crime)," New Brunswick Conservative MP Rob Moore told the House
of Commons. "Impaired drivers are responsible for thousands of
fatalities and injuries each year, not to mention billions of dollars
in property damage."

Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) Canada, pointing to impaired
driving as Canada's leading criminal cause of death, was a strong
supporter of the bill.

"The legislation introduces a legal framework for apprehending and
charging drivers high on drugs," MADD Canada president Margaret
Miller stated in a press release. "It also closes legal loopholes .
that (allowed) impaired drivers to escape criminal convictions."

MADD reports an average of four Canadians are killed and another 190
seriously injured every day as a result of impaired driving.

In the recent Midland case, a 17-year-old Midland resident was
charged with operating a motor vehicle while impaired by a drug. He
was released with instructions to appear in Midland Youth Court on Dec. 3.