Eye on Drugs:

POLICE HAVE NEW TOOL TO DETERMINE IF A DRIVER IS USING DRUGS

When North Andover police caught up with an 18-year-old man who had
stolen a BMW and broken into 25 cars in 90 minutes in March, they
suspected alcohol wasn't the only thing he was on.

In Haverhill, police suspected the same thing early one morning last
month when they spotted a car on the Basiliere Bridge facing north in
the southbound lane with an incoherent 28-year-old woman at the wheel.

So did the Kingston, N.H., police officer who found a driver involved
in a bad accident on Main Street last month standing in the street
while a female passenger was trapped in her car.

In all three cases, trained drug recognition experts - DREs, to
police - were called in to determine whether the drivers were on
drugs. In all three cases, the answer was yes, and the drivers were
charged with drugged driving.

Police have long used field sobriety and breath tests and their own
observations to determine whether a driver is drunk. But until now
drivers who seemed impaired but passed the breath test often had to
be let go, even though police suspected they were high on drugs.

Police say the new technique closes a loophole that allowed
drug-impaired drivers to get away with the crime. But defense lawyers
question the science behind drug recognition and the potentially
invasive nature of the tests DREs employ.

Salem, Kingston and Seabrook are among New Hampshire police
departments with certified DREs.

In Massachusetts, Lawrence, North Andover, Haverhill, Rowley,
Danvers, Marblehead and Wenham have their own drug detectors, and an
Andover officer is completing training.

Acting Sgt. Chuck Gray, North Andover's drug recognition expert,
evaluated the teen in the stolen BMW and concluded he was under the
influence of cocaine, Klonopin and Liquid G, a "date-rape drug" that
is also used to produce a high when taken in combination with other
drugs. The teen was sent to jail.

Haverhill Officer Kevin Lynch, a DRE, determined the woman on the
Basiliere Bridge was under the influence of stimulants, depressants
and narcotic analgesics. She is awaiting trial.

So is the driver in the Kingston accident, who Officer Michael
LePage, also a DRE, concluded was under the influence of alcohol and marijuana.

Working from a 12-point checklist, drug recognition experts perform
eye tests, check pulse and blood pressure rates and look for other
physical signs that an impaired driver may be under the influence of
drugs in any of seven categories - depressants, stimulants,
hallucinogens, phencyclidines like PCP or angel dust, narcotic
analgesics, inhalants and cannabis..

They travel with a blood pressure cuff, thermometer, stethoscope,
latex gloves and a specimen kit for collecting urine samples. They
can be called upon to perform evaluations of people at car accident
scenes or in the more controlled environment of a police station.

Gray said he has even gone to two homes after he was called by
parents concerned that their children were on some kind of drug. His
evaluation enabled the parents to seek help for their children.

North Andover police Chief Richard Stanley said the new technique is
especially welcome at a time when police are seeing more
drug-impaired drivers, especially among young people.

"The use of marijuana by young people is rampant and if they are
driving a vehicle this is a tremendous tool to help stop them," he said.

"Over the last 30 years I have seen many cases where an individual
was under the influence of narcotics and we had to let them go
because there was no testing mechanism, or take out charges which we
constantly lost in court."

Kingston police Chief Donald Briggs agreed.

"The DRE provides to arresting officers a lot of help in building and
supporting their cases," he said.

Marblehead police Sgt. Donald Decker, a drug recognition instructor
and Massachusetts statewide coordinator for the DRE program, said
cities and towns with their own DREs make more drugged-driving arrests.

In 2005, the most recent year for which Decker has statistics, 684
people statewide were charged with driving under the influence of drugs.

"There were clearly more in 2006, and DREs are getting more requests
from district attorneys to testify in such cases," Decker said.
"There are more convictions and more people pleading now."

The penalties for drugged driving are the same as for drunken
driving, Decker said.

Test Voluntary

In New Hampshire, DRE tests fall under the state's implied consent
law for drivers.

Kingston's LePage said drivers may be required to submit to blood,
urine and other physical tests or lose their license for 180 days.

In Massachusetts, the implied-consent law requires suspected drunken
drivers to submit to breath tests or automatically lose their
license. But drug recognition tests are not covered by the law

While no one can be forced to cooperate with the drug evaluation,
most do for one of two reasons, Gray said.

"They know they need help and feel they are going to get it if they
cooperate or they think they are going to beat the system," Gray said.

Marblehead's Decker is working to change the law so even the
reluctant will be required to submit to drug testing.

He has met with Sen. Bruce Tarr of Gloucester, who said he favors
legislation that would bring blood, urine and other physical tests
under the implied consent law.

"I am convinced we need to modernize the law and close the gaps
between the way we treat alcohol-impaired drivers and drug-impaired
drivers," Tarr said. "We are in the formative stages of producing a
comprehensive legislative package to bring (the law) into the modern era."

Steve O'Connell, spokesman for Essex County District Attorney
Jonathan Blodgett, said the legislation could help prosecute drugged
drivers using evidence gathered by DREs.

"There are legal challenges in Massachusetts in getting this evidence
admitted," he said. "Should any legislation be introduced we would
certainly be interested in reviewing it."

But Randy Chapman, a former prosecutor who now defends accused
drunken drivers, said there are problems with the DRE program.

"Drug-impaired drivers are one of the more difficult to prosecute
because most officers are incapable of identifying what substance the
individual is impaired by," said Chapman, of Everett.

He said he also has strong reservations about police officers
collecting biological samples.

"The breath test is simple. Officers can do that. Blood and urine
samples are more intrusive and the collection aspect is fraught with
problems," he said.

"There has to be a major legislative change and a re-interpretation
of the Massachusetts constitution before the DRE program can be
embedded in our courts," Chapman said.

Michael Coyne, a law professor at Massachusetts School of Law in
Andover and a practicing defense lawyer, also has concerns about the
DRE program.

"The courts have to carefully scrutinize whether it is science,"
Coyne said. "If it is science, it should act, walk and talk science.
. We ought to take it slow and make sure the science is valid."

New to New England

Drug recognition techniques have been used by police on the West
Coast since the mid-1970s but only as recently as the mid-1990s in
Massachusetts and New Hampshire.

"Everything takes awhile, especially in New England," said William
Quigley, New Hampshire statewide coordinator for the DRE program and
deputy police chief in Weare.

Marblehead's Decker said he and former Brewster police Officer Gary
Coffey, now with the FBI, were the first in Massachusetts to be
certified as DRE's.

The course involves 80 hours of classroom training and 12 field
evaluations. The officers must get 75 percent of the evaluations
correct to be certified.

"It was tougher than any college class I ever took," Lynch said.

There are now 47 DRE's certified in Massachusetts, six with state police.

In New Hampshire, there are 77 active DREs, said Quigley. Twenty-two
are state troopers, and 55 are scattered among the state Department
of Corrections and local police departments.

"I think it is phenomenal, but it is in its infancy here," said
Haverhill's Lynch. "In other parts of the country, L.A. and Phoenix
for example, the program is used every day."

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12 STEPS TO IDENTIFYING A DRUGGED DRIVER

1. Breath or blood alcohol test. If test result is inconsistent with
subject's level of impairment, a drug recognition expert is called.

2. DRE discusses circumstances of arrest with arresting officer.

3. Preliminary Subject is examined and pulse is taken.

4. Three eye movement tests are performed to check ability to track
moving objects.

5. Subject is asked to perform several tests requiring balance,
coordinated body movements and the ability to follow instructions.

6. Vital signs are taken, including blood pressure, temperature and pulse.

7. In a darkened room, the DRE uses a gauge to examine the pupils of
the subject's eyes. This examination also includes a viewing of the
nasal and oral cavities.

8. DRE checks muscle tone by moving subject's arms.

9. DRE checks for possible injection sites and takes another pulse.

10. DRE questions subject, asking about the use of specific drugs.

11. DRE forms an opinion on type of drugs the subject may be using
and puts the opinion in writing.

12. DRE obtains a urine specimen and may arrange for a blood sample
to corroborate the opinion.