DOPEY DRIVERS IN SIGHTS

Campaign Seeks To Weed Out Deadly Teen Behaviour

Gregg Thomson hopes a new toking-and-driving campaign has the same
impact of drinking-and-driving campaigns 20 years ago.

Thomson has worked to combat drug-impaired driving for six years,
since his 18-year-old son, Stanley, was killed in a four-vehicle collision.

The teen responsible for the crash, which seriously injured three
others, admitted in court to smoking marijuana on the day of the accident.

"Thirty days after Stan was killed, I told my daughter in dismay that
I thought I had educated him on drinking and driving," Thomson said.
"She said: 'You never told us about drugs and driving.' That resonates
with me every day."

GET YOUTH TALKING

Tomorrow, the Canadian Public Health Association will launch a Pot and
Driving campaign to educate teens about the dangers of driving after
smoking pot.

The campaign uses an image of two pilots in a cockpit smoking pot with
the tag line: "If it doesn't make sense here, why does it make sense
when you drive?"

The goal is simple: To get people -- especially young people --
talking.

Marijuana activist Rick Reimer cautioned any new campaigns should not
create panic.

"Before people go into a panic, they should remember that it's been
done by teens since the 1950s and 1960s," he said. "It's not really a
huge problem in my opinion."

Reimer, a lawyer, successfully defended himself on marijuana charges
in court. He told the court he had smoked "five huge joints" one day
and was not impaired.

Reimer argued marijuana users tend to overestimate their impairment
and are overly careful drivers, while drunk drivers underestimate
their level of intoxication.

OPP Const. Eric Booth disputed that argument, saying the effects are
the same.

He also warned that political debates about decriminalizing the
possession of small amounts of pot fool many teens into thinking it's
a harmless pastime.

"People don't realize drugs have the same effect as alcohol," Booth
said. "There's this perception that it can't be something that is bad."

Police officers who conduct RIDE programs are now being trained to
detect drug-impaired driving. While RIDE programs have curbed drunk
driving, drug-impaired driving has become a big problem, he said.

"We're pretty much guaranteed to get (drivers) on drugs now," Booth
said.

For more information about the toking and driving campaign, visit
http://www.potanddriving.cpha.ca.

THE STRAIGHT DOPE

- - Canadians between the ages of 14 to 25 have one of the highest rates
of pot use in the world.

- - One in five Ontario high school student in the 2003 Ontario Student
Drug Use Survey reported driving one hour after using cannabis in the
past six months.

- - While most young motorists have little tolerance for
alcohol-impaired driving, they commonly regard pot and driving as risk-free.

- - Pot affects tracking ability, meaning drivers under the influence
have been found to have a harder time following their lane.

- - Pot has been found to increase the reaction time needed to respond
in an driving emergency.

- - Cannabis impairs driving skills most severely during the acute
phase, which typically lasts up to an hour after smoking. This is
followed by post-acute and residual phases, which can last 2-3 hours.

- - The feds are considering allowing police to require drivers to take
a sobriety test if the officer believes the driver is under the
influence of a drug.