UK DRUG-DRIVE RESEARCH SPARKS ROW

A row broke out tonight over government-backed research which compared
driving performance under the influence of alcohol and cannabis.

New Scientist magazine said a leaked report from the Transport Research
Laboratory had found a single glass of wine impaired driving more than a
whole cannabis cigarette.

However, the laboratory in Crowthorne, Berkshire, said the magazine
article, published in its latest edition, was "full of inaccuracies" - but
would not say what these were.

A TRL spokeswoman said: "Although the testing is finished, the report the
author saw was in draft form and was not yet completed.

"The article contained several inaccuracies and we are actively considering
making a complaint."

The author of the New Scientist article, Arran Frood, said: "The article
was thoroughly checked and the results of the tests corroborate previous
research on the subject.

"I have not been made aware of any complaint that TRL have about it."

According to the article, researchers at TRL had found volunteers who drank
60 per cent of the legal drink-drive limit were less able to drive in a
straight line or at a constant speed than those who had smoked a specially
prepared marijuana joint.

Unlike the tipsy drivers, the doped-up drivers tended to be aware of their
state and drove cautiously to compensate, it added.

The results suggested that automatically penalising drivers with any amount
of recently-smoked cannabis in their bodies would only be credible if a
zero-tolerance policy were adopted for drink-driving as well, New Scientist
said.

Last week the Government suggested that police could be given greater
powers to arrest drug-taking drivers as figures showed the spiralling
influence of illegal substances in fatal smashes.

The Department of Transport said ministers wanted to toughen the law and to
educate officers in drug recognition techniques which would give them
greater confidence to arrest a suspect.

The move came as doctors' leaders called for drug-driving tests and warned
that both legal and illegal substances impaired the ability to drive safely
in the same lethal way as alcohol.