DRUG USE BY DRIVERS TARGETED

Legislation Aims to Establish Legal Standards in California

SACRAMENTO - While motorists may face criminal charges for driving
with a blood alcohol level of at least 0.08 percent, the lack of a
similar legal standard for driving under the influence of drugs has
allowed many to avoid prosecution.

Assemblyman John Benoit hopes to change that.

Benoit, R-Riverside, announced legislation Tuesday to prohibit
drivers with detectable amounts of certain dangerous and illegal
drugs - such as methamphetamine, cocaine and heroin - from operating a vehicle.

Under existing law, drivers suspected of being under the influence of
illegal drugs can be arrested. But successful prosecution is
difficult, Benoit said, because juries are accustomed to a numerical
standard, like the state's blood-alcohol law, to determine a
motorist's level of impairment.

"People who should be convicted are not," Benoit told a news conference.

It is unknown how many drivers under the influence of drugs escape
prosecution in California. A Maryland study cited at the conference
suggested that, at least in that state, driver injuries in crashes
that involved drugs or alcohol were caused by drivers who were high
nearly twice as often as those who were drunk.

The proposed California law, AB 1215, asks the Legislature to set
numerical values based on blood and urine samples to determine how
high a driver is. But after an informational hearing by the Assembly
Public Safety Committee after the news conference, Benoit said he was
seriously considering modifying the proposal into a "zero-tolerance" law.

The proposed law also would set a "per se" legal standard, which
essentially means any amount of drug is sufficient for prosecution,
similar to statutes in 16 other states. That lessens the burden on
prosecutors to prove a driver was using illegal drugs at the time he
or she was pulled over.

"If they are under the influence of cocaine, they shouldn't be
driving; if they are under the influence of these illegal drugs, they
should not be behind the wheel," said Benoit, a former California
Highway Patrol officer.

California doesn't have driving-while-drugged standards because of a
lack of studies. Prosecuting drug-impaired drivers also is difficult
because some drugs stay in a person's system longer than others. In
addition, by the time someone is tested, much of the drug may have degraded.

"This is a tremendous challenge for prosecutors statewide because of
the lack of a bright-line standard such as we have in the field of
driving under the influence of alcohol," said Contra Costa County
District Attorney Bob Kochly.

The law wouldn't apply to marijuana users or those who take prescription drugs.

The California DUI Lawyers Association and California Attorneys for
Criminal Justice oppose the measure, mostly on two grounds. The
groups say a new law is unnecessary because in many instances, people
caught under the influence of illegal drugs, driving or not, must at
minimum serve 90 days in jail. The groups also argue that drug test
results can be inaccurate and vary from lab to lab.

The measure is supported by the California Police Chiefs Association,
the California Peace Officers Association and the California Narcotic
Officers Association, among other law enforcement agencies and organizations.