SOBRIETY PUT TO THE TEST

Sun Scribe Drinks Up, but It's All in the Line of Duty

While it's been pounded into me since high school that drinking and driving
is not wise, drinking and writing isn't too high on my advisable list
either. But, here goes. I spent yesterday as part of a team of guinea pigs
for 27 police officers from across Canada training to be drug recognition
experts (DRE) at the RCMP's headquarters.

While breathalyzers can determine if someone has been drinking, there's no
equivalent for illicit drugs. The best tool police forces have is their
officers.

To determine if someone's impaired, DRE officers use a 12-step procedure
that involves visual clues and vital signs, as well as questioning and
urine or saliva samples. For the record, none of us had to pee in a cup
yesterday.

But that wasn't for a lack of drinking. The eight of us, members of the
media and RCMP employees, spent the better part of the day in a room
pounding back a few.

Before it began, Gary Giroux from Regina Police took my pulse and blood
pressure and checked my eyes.

"Any trouble walking?" asked Gino Pagliericci from the Vancouver Police as
we went through the waiver.

"Not yet," I replied.

On to the ground rules. There would be no going to the bathroom alone. "We
don't want you stumbling out or getting sick or anything," said Francois
Phaneuf, a DRE instructor and member of the Quebec provincial police.

He was among the officers serving us our drinks. Empty a glass and another
would appear.

"I bet you've never had a cop telling you to drink up," Pagliericci said.

Nope, can't say I have.

Once all were "at a minimal level of impairment," we were evaluated by DRE
officers in training. Having no idea what we'd consumed, they had to
determine if we were impaired.

Because the police couldn't have us high on illicit drugs, booze was the
next best thing. It's also a depressant, so someone who's drunk has similar
telltale signs as someone looped on depressants.

Officers began looking for involuntary jerking of the eyes.

"The more impaired you are, the quicker you start to jump," said Halifax
Regional Police Sgt. Ken Burton.

There was line-walking and nose-touching, and taking of blood pressure and
pulse. The evaluation starts with the eyes and works from there, narrowing
down the possible drugs a person might be on.

Depressants, inhalants and PCP will cause eye jerking, while eyelid tremors
suggest cannabis and stimulants. Narcotics and depressants will lower blood
pressure and body temperature. Simply, your body will tell an officer what
you're on.

IMPAIRED

With each round of testing, I got progressively worse.

Not surprising, as I learned I had 8.5 ounces of alcohol in my system, and
was blowing 91 mg per 100 ml of blood, just over the legal limit of 80 mg.
Impaired? No question about it.

While police forces are pushing for change, right now submitting to the
testing is all voluntary.

"That's a huge problem," said RCMP Const. Paulena Gidda, adding too many
people forget that one drink while on prescription drugs can leave them
impaired. "That's the scary part for us right now. How many people out
there have a drug in their system and get behind the wheel?"