SUCKERS DRIVE ON DRUGS

VICTORIA Police are considering a lollipop-like device that absorbs
saliva to nab drug-affected drivers.

The pocket-sized device, produced by the German company Drager, is one
of several options that from July 1 would help police randomly make
drug tests.

Drivers would suck an applicator bud and loll it around their tongue
and gums to collect saliva, to be tested via laser beam inside an analyser.

Motorists testing positive would submit to another test in a drug bus,
and could face a fine of up to $600 and three-month loss of licence if
guilty of drug-affected driving.

Police statistics showed 27 per cent of motorists killed on Victorian
roads in 2002 had illicit drugs in their bloodstream, with cannabis
and amphetamines accounting for 24 per cent of that figure.

Drug testing will operate on a trial basis for one year, at a cost of
$1.3 million, under legislation introduced last October into State
Parliament.

Victoria Police Inspector Martin Boorman, speaking at the Saferoads
2004 conference in

Melbourne, said drugged drivers were a menace, adding: "This is what
is required to protect people on the road from the carnage that is
caused by drug-affected people."