STATE POLICE TO TAKE OVER DRUG TESTING

PIKESVILLE -- Police and law enforcement officials hope that a new
arrangement for testing blood samples of people suspected of driving
under the influence of drugs will make it easier and cheaper to charge
and prosecute those cases.

Testing for police departments around the state will now be done by
the toxicology unit of the State Police Forensic Sciences Laboratory
in Pikesville, Col. Terrence Sheridan, superintendant of the Maryland
State Police, said at a press conference Wednesday.

The state had run into a problem because there were only two labs on
the East Coast that could perform the tests, and those labs had become
reluctant to send their experts to testify in Maryland courts because
of the cost and time involved, Sheridan said.

Sheridan said he hoped the new lab would give police and prosecutors a
one-stop solution for handling drugged driving cases.

The equipment for the lab was purchased using a $159,000 grant
obtained with the help of the State Highway Administration and the
Maryland Highway Safety Office.

Sheridan said state police troopers have been told to make stopping
suspected impaired drivers a priority, especially during the holiday
season.

The testing program has already begun operating and cases are being
analyzed for pending trials, according to a state police release.
Scientists at the lab expect to test between 300 and 500 blood samples
for drugs in the coming year.

Carroll County Chief Deputy State's Attorney Dave Daggett said he
believes having the lab will be incredibly helpful to
prosecutors.

Daggett said his office has had a difficult time recently proving
drugged driving cases without experts available to testify.

"It's long overdue and I'm glad they're going to start doing it
again," he said.

Baltimore County State's Attorney Scott Shellenberger said prosecutors
want the best evidence possible when they go into the courtroom, and
he believed the state police program will be a significant advance in
proving cases that can be very difficult to prosecute.

Wednesday's press conference followed a morning event in Annapolis in
which Lt. Gov. Anthony Brown joined family members and friends of
people killed in drunken or drugged driving crashes.

On Tuesday, Gov. Martin O'Malley signed an executive order calling for
a task force to develop a program that can track impaired driving
offenders from arrest, through the legal process and continuing
through treatment and beyond.