SHOCK FINDING ON DRUG DRIVERS

THREE out of four traffic offenders in the East Perth lockup test positive
to drugs, including cannabis, speed, opiates and cocaine.

A national study has found drug use by drivers to be a significant safety
risk on the roads, yet most people in lockups do not believe using drugs
will impair their driving and think they are not likely to be caught
driving with drugs in their system.

The Australian Institute of Criminology study monitored drug driving by
detainees at four lockups in WA, Queensland and NSW between 1999 and 2001.
Drugs were tested in six main classes - amphetamines, benzodiazepines,
cannabis, cocaine, methadone and opiates.

Of 561 traffic offenders tested nationally:

# 71 per cent tested positive to at least one of the six drug classes.

# 55 per cent tested positive to cannabis.

# 47 per cent tested positive to drugs other than cannabis.

# 37 per cent tested positive to more than one drug.

Of the offenders in the study, 27 per cent had been detained on
drink-driving charges. Fourteen per cent said they had used both drugs and
alcohol shortly before their arrest.

In East Perth, 76.4 per cent of traffic offenders tested positive to at
least one drug, while 55.8 per cent were positive to drugs other than
cannabis - the highest levels in the four test sites.

The study also showed much higher use of amphetamines among traffic
offenders at East Perth than the other sites - 39.7 per cent of those in WA
tested positive to speed, compared with between 9 per cent and 23 per cent
at other lockups.

The use of cocaine, found in 0.5 per cent of traffic offenders at East
Perth, was the lowest of the four lockups.

The study also found that compared with other groups of offenders held by
police, traffic detainees who tested positive to drugs were younger, less
educated, less likely to be employed and more likely to have been in jail
or arrested for drug and traffic offences in the past year.

"It is a significant road safety concern that the majority of traffic
detainees (in the survey) tested positive to psychoactive drugs other than
alcohol," the report said.

"It should be noted that the data does not allow us to determine whether
the traffic detainees were actually impaired while driving.

"It does appear, however, that taking drugs and driving is an acceptable
practice amongst this sample. It is a major issue that some of these
traffic detainees may be at greater risk of accidents by using multiple
psychoactive drugs or drugs and alcohol."