DRIVING 'TEST' SHOWS POT RISK

MARIJUANA use on university campuses is hardly a new thing. But the young
men and women smoking joints on the third floor balcony of Swinburne
University's Hawthorn campus in Melbourne are not in it for the buzz.

After a stopwatch-controlled toke on an imported spliff, they go back
indoors to a driving simulator and test their drug-hazed brains against the
hazards of computer-generated roads.

Centre for Neuropsychology researcher Dr Katherine Papafotiou says
participants, even long-time users, were often surprised by their
drug-damaged driving abilities when demonstrated in a scientific laboratory.

"Regular users were under the impression that they may not be impaired by
low levels of drug use," she said. "They would come out of the test
thinking they had not performed that badly, and were surpsised by what the
statistics showed."

If a group of friends took drugs together and then went for a drive, none
of them would be aware of the risk.

"Nobody is sober enough to say 'you're driving like an idiot'," Dr
Papafotiou said.

The Swinburne team has already completed studies on the effects of
marijuana and amphetamines on driving and is now studying how alcohol and
marijuana work in combination.

Early results show that even a small amount of alcohol - below 0.05 blood
alcohol level - in combination with marijuana can severely increase impairment.

The researchers are still looking for volunteers to take part in the
study. They say advertisements always get a big response, but many are put
off by the blood tests that are part of the experiment.

Next the team plans to examine the effect of ecstasy on driving ability.