ISLAND POLICE TRAINED TO SPOT DRIVERS CRUISING ON POT

People who think they have less chance of being caught for impaired driving
after smoking a joint may want to think twice, says Victoria police Const.
Bill Roberts.

Roberts was one of eight B.C. instructors who visited Toronto this month to
teach police officers across Canada what to look for if they suspect a
driver is under the influence of marijuana, or another illicit drug.

He says if an officer is at a roadblock where a driver is suspected of
being high on a substance other than alcohol, the officer can use his or
her senses, particularly sight and smell.

"Definitely, there's a very pungent smell, especially with the marijuana
that's grown in B.C. It's the highest (potency) in Canada," says Roberts,
noting some B.C.-grown pot has THC levels of 32 per cent.

Among the most common characteristics of people high on drugs is dilated
pupils, Roberts notes.

He says young drivers need to be aware that besides not being allowed to
drink and drive, they also are not permitted to "toke and drive".

"Obviously, marijuana affects your divided attention and how you perceive
things." The final stage of the three-week Drug Recognition Expert program,
which Roberts taught, gave officers "hands-on" experience checking for
stoned drivers on the roads of Toronto. The first two weeks involved
classroom instruction at the Ontario Police College, in Alymer, Ont.

Roberts says the course trains officers to conduct four different divided
attention tests, all of which are used in a program that has been in place
in Los Angeles since the late 1970s.

"So it's been around for quite some time. B.C. has taken the forefront in
Canada," he says.

He notes that many officers are trained to look for drivers who are high,
in one of seven drug categories.

Saanich police Const. Blair Stearn says a Standardized Field Sobriety Test
developed in the U.S. for drunk driving assessments is also used to target
drivers who are high on other substances. He says several symptoms drunk
drivers display are also apparent with stoned drivers.

"They were able to tell which drug the person was on based on some
physiological symptoms that (the driver's) body exhibits," says Stearn.

Staff Sgt. Ted Smith, in charge of traffic patrols for the RCMP on
Vancouver Island, says it is easy to catch a driver who is stoned on
marijuana at a roadblock.

"The most obvious thing is the undeniable odour," he says.

Smith says officers do have powers under the Criminal Code to arrest
someone for impaired driving if they're high on marijuana, or at least
detain a driver suspected of being stoned while behind the wheel. Finding
marijuana on the driver gives police an even stronger case, he adds.

While police can use the Criminal Code to demand a blood or urine test from
a driver suspected of being stoned, Smith says police cannot obtain a
warrant to have a test conducted. However, he says the use of blood tests
are quite rare.

Impaired driving convictions are also not very common in B.C. for drivers
who are stoned on pot or other drugs. That said, Smith says the most common
approach police employ when trying to take a stoned driver off the road is
to issue a temporary driving suspension for 12 or 24 hours.