POLICE EXERCISE NEW LAW TARGETING DRIVERS ON DRUGS

On the roads, the waterways and from the air, police marked this long
Thanksgiving weekend by targeting speeding drivers, careless drivers
and drunken drivers.

Drugged ones, too.

But recognizing the symptoms of a stoned driver is no simple task.
Motorists suspected of alcohol impairment have long been compelled to
blow into a breath analyzer and/or provide a blood sample. But under
an amendment to the federal Criminal Code passed in July, the
threshold has widened substantially.

Now, a police officer who thinks a driver might be high on drugs can
make that person perform a roadside test, or rather 12 of them, listed
on the federal Department of Justice website.

Those tests are administered by a police officer, specially trained in
drug recognition, who gets summoned to the scene.

That's what happened to a 27-year-old Toronto woman in the downtown
core last week, when she crashed her Ford Mustang into a stationary
car that had just been in a collision and was being examined by police.

After a dialogue with police, she was put through an extensive battery
of tests and subsequently charged with drug-impaired driving and with
possession of a banned substance - ketamine, a heavy sedative used in
both human and veterinary medicine.

Her roadside arrest was one of the first of its kind in Ontario, but
is unlikely to be the last.

The drug-testing apparatus uses samples of blood, saliva or urine and
is described as extremely reliable, but complex.

With alcohol, signs of impairment are relatively easy to
spot.

The biggest giveaway is usually the odour of the booze, harder to
disguise than often realized. Slurred speech is another telling
signal, along with the inability to walk in a straight line.

But symptoms of drug use are typically far more subtle. And within the
Toronto Police Service, there are still only about half a dozen
experts fully trained in its intricacies, though several dozen more
are in the pipeline.

So what hoops must the suspected drugged-driver jump
through?

"It's the full gamut," said Sergeant Tim Burrows of Toronto police's
traffic unit. "They do the [alcohol] breath test right away, to
eliminate that as a possible factor, then they'll do eye tests,
balance co-ordination tests - all the 12 steps."

And if, as happened last week, the suspect shows signs of being high
on drugs, there follows a trip to the police station for a detailed
examination of what's in his or her system, through analysis of either
urine, blood or saliva.

The suspect can choose which of the three tests he or she prefers. In
this instance, the woman opted to provide a saliva sample. But it
doesn't make much difference, Sgt. Burrows said, because all three
fluids will yield an accurate reading.

"There's seven categories of drugs - cannabis, for example, houses
marijuana, hash, hash oil - and what they get back [from the results]
is the category," he said.

The whole process, he says, is "spectacular. By the time they're done
with the person and done all the evaluations, they'll pretty well know
that person inside out."

So will there be a sudden flood of drug-impaired drivers before the
courts?

Sgt. Burrow's colleague, Constable Brett Dixon, doubts
it.

"For most people narcotics are a recreational use, and people who are
severely dependent on drugs usually aren't driving," he said.

Ontario Provincial Police launched an aggressive enforcement campaign
on major highways over the weekend, but as of last night had yet to
compile the number of drivers charged with drug impairment.

There were two deaths on Ontario highways resulting from motorcycle
accidents in Huntsville and in the London area. Another three people
died Saturday when a pickup truck veered off the road and rolled over
about 30 kilometres outside Renfrew, northwest of Ottawa.