POLICE FOCUS ON DRUGGED DRIVERS

Officers Given Special Training

Police have long been concerned about drivers impaired by illegal drugs
like marijuana and cocaine, but until now there has been little they could
do to detect and charge offenders.

The answer was on show yesterday at police headquarters in the form of 19
new graduates from a course that trains law-enforcement officers in
detecting drug use.

The 19 graduates include 17 police officers from across Canada — three from
Toronto — and two corrections officers.

All are trained as "drug recognition experts," which gives them the status
of expert witnesses in jurisdictions that recognize them.

In British Columbia and Manitoba, these officers can issue 24-hour licence
suspensions.

There have been several convictions of impaired driving in Vancouver based
on evidence from DRE officers.

City police Deputy Chief Mike Boyd said yesterday he hopes Ontario will
pass legislation to allow courts here to accept evidence from these
specially trained officers.

Boyd said changes in legislation are also necessary to allow police to
demand samples for drug evaluations similar to those requiring people
impaired by alcohol to give a breath sample.

"Young people are more likely to toke and drive rather than drink and
drive," he said.

"That is a huge concern for us, especially when we consider the high
potency of marijuana that's on the streets of Canada today," he added.

Boyd said the Senate special committee on illegal drugs estimated that
between five and 12 per cent of drivers may drive under the influence of
cannabis.

"That may increase to as much as 20 per cent of male drivers under the age
of 25 years," he said.

According to police, one company is working on a swab test that will
identify seven or eight different drugs and another firm is working on an
eye scanning device that can detect a number of drugs in a person's system.