POLICE PUSH FOR TOUGHER LAW ON DRUGGED DRIVERS

Police are pushing for tougher laws to make it easier to prosecute people
driving under the influence of drugs.

They also want legal drugs covered along with banned substances.

With a trial of voluntary driver drug testing starting this week in
association with drink-driving checkpoints, police claim it is too tough to
get a conviction for drugs other than alcohol.

The 1998 Land Transport Act makes it an offence to drive "or attempt to
drive a motor vehicle on a road while under the influence of drink or a
drug or both, to such an extent as to be incapable of having proper control
of the vehicle".

A report released by the police said the words "incapable of proper
control" set a high threshold and meant only those who were extremely
impaired were likely to be convicted.

Though breath and blood testing can measure the level of alcohol present,
similar tests cannot reliably measure the level of drug impairment. The ESR
charges $200 to test a blood sample for one substance but screening for
more than one costs $2850.

In December the Government agreed in principle to introduce a new offence
of being impaired by illicit drugs while in control of a motor vehicle.

But the report, which the police commissioned from British company
Transport Research Laboratory (TRL), said the Government had overlooked a
significant point. "It is not the legal status of the substance that is the
road safety issue, but the level of impairment that it causes."

Compounds found in illicit drugs were also found in some legal drugs, which
would create difficulty establishing a schedule of banned substances, TRL
said. "Experience from the world of drug testing in sport, as well as the
enforcement arena, has shown that those producing drugs will, whenever
possible, attempt to find ways around any schedule by introducing new
variants."

TRL, whose staff will train police officers in drug recognition testing,
said the Government would be better to include all drugs in the law rather
than trying to amend it in the future to cover legal drugs.

It said under new drug-driving laws in Britain and Victoria the offence
related to the level of impairment but offenders were treated differently.
Those impaired by illicit drugs were prosecuted while those impaired by
legal drugs could be treated more leniently, such as with a temporary
suspension of the right to drive.

Victoria police are to test saliva-based roadside drug tests from July 1
for a year and New Zealand police are keen to monitor the results.

Transport Minister Pete Hodgson was not ready to answer questions about the
issues until police and transport officials reported back to him this month.

The drug testing programme the police will run with drink-driving
checkpoints is voluntary. People will be asked to perform "divided
attention" tasks such as walking a straight line, turning and walking back.
If they fail, a doctor will assess the level of impairment and the police
plan to use that opinion plus that of the police officer as the basis for
prosecution. British testing

* In Britain only 3 to 4 per cent of drivers asked to undergo the tests refused

* Of those who agreed to be tested, 38 per cent failed.