POT RULING PANNED

Death-Drive Teen Dodges Impaired Conviction

SURREY, B.C. -- A youth found guilty of dangerous driving in a crash
that killed two teens escaped being convicted of driving while
impaired by marijuana, a move that would have set a national
precedent. That loss for the Crown and the fact that the young
offender still has his driver's licence, upset the mothers of the
crash victims -- two 16-year-old boys.

SON DIED

"We were hoping that this would be a precedent-setting case and that
the laws would be changed," said Helen Featherstone, whose son Simon
died in the April 4, 2002, single-vehicle crash.

"We don't want our sons to have died in vain. We were hoping this
would create a new way to proceed."

Featherstone and Diane Unger, whose son Dayton died in the accident,
stood together at a sad impromptu news conference on the steps of the
suburban Surrey, B.C., courthouse.

Under the Youth Justice Act, the driver can't be named.

Evidence introduced during the long trial, which concluded in June,
indicated the driver had 144 micrograms per litre of
tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the active ingredient in marijuana, in his
blood. A witness testified that a level of 35 micrograms would affect
a driver's ability.

Despite the extremely high reading, Judge W.G. MacDonald noted that
none of the accident investigators or medical staff who dealt with the
driver noted any indication of marijuana use.

After the decision, Sayson pointed out that obtaining a conviction for
impairment by marijuana is very difficult under current law.

"There is no legal limit that is stated for the simple reason that
there is no legal limit -- you cannot smoke marijuana, period --
unlike alcohol, where there is a legal limit of .08," he said.

Unger, who described listening to the judgment "like going through the
funeral all over again," said she is concerned that the driver still
has his licence.

"He can still drive, and we see him driving around, and it's really,
really tough."