CORONER GIVES CANNABIS WARNING

The death of a man whose car crashed off the Ngauranga Gorge flyover last
year graphically illustrates the dangers of smoking cannabis before
driving, Wellington coroner Garry Evans says.

Tatupu Sulupo, a 26-year-old doorman from Newtown, died in an ambulance
from head injuries sustained in the crash.

He had lost control of the car he was driving at 7.20am on February 25 last
year. The car flew off the southbound flyover and landed on its roof on
Hutt Rd, 14-1/2 metres below.

"It is clear on the evidence that Mr Sulupo's use of cannabis before
driving acted upon his consciousness in such as way as to cause him, in
combination with the speed at which he was travelling, to lose control of
his vehicle and, ultimately, his life," Mr Evans said.

"In the experience of coroners and police officers, cannabis is not the
innocuous recreational drug that a section of society would maintain.
People who drive after having smoked cannabis put both their lives and the
lives of others at peril."

Mr Evans said the evidence showed that Mr Sulupo was driving at a speed
that was excessive and unsafe in the circumstances, and at a time when his
faculties were impaired by cannabis intoxication.

Police evidence estimated his speed at 107 to 116km/h.

Mr Sulupo had never held a driver's licence. He was driving a car that was
found to have two worn tyres, which might have contributed to the crash.

Forensic results were consistent with him having smoked the equivalent of a
single cannabis cigarette within three hours before his death.

Mr Sulupo's family told police he regularly used cannabis and that when he
smoked he would fall deeply asleep.