12 May 2011

Drink and drug driving laws kick off tomorrow

12 May 2011 | johnboy

Territory And Municipal Services are advising that new drink and drug driving laws are coming into effect tomorrow.

The stuff on drug driving is particularly new and goes like this:

What about drug driving?

— The ACT Legislative Assembly passed new laws to permit roadside drug testing of motorists for the presence of cannabis, methamphetamine and ecstasy.
— Police are now conducting random drug testing operations in the ACT.

What is the process for drug testing?

— Drug testing is a three-step process. The first step is an oral fluid (saliva) screening test, usually conducted at the roadside using a disposable testing device.
— If this test is positive, you will be required to provide a sample of saliva for analysis. This sample will be divided into two parts.
— One part will be analysed immediately by an oral fluid analysis instrument and the other part will be sent to a laboratory for confirmatory analysis.
— If the laboratory analysis confirms that a drug is present, you will be prosecuted for a drug driving offence.
If you cannot provide enough oral fluid for analysis, you may be required to give a blood sample for analysis.

What are the penalties for drug driving?

— The maximum penalty for drug driving is a fine of 10 penalty units for a first offence, or 25 penalty units and up to 3 months imprisonment for a repeat offender.
— A court can also order a period of licence disqualification.
— It is an offence to leave the test area before testing is complete and it is also an offence to refuse a drug test.

Where do I go if I need help to address drug use and driving issues?

— The ACT Department of Health’s Alcohol and Drug Program 24 Hour Intake and Helpline can assist in referring drug drivers with drug dependence issues to treatment providers. Please select the following link: ACT Health
— One phone call is all it takes to access help – the phone number is 6207 9977.

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gazket9:54 pm 28 Nov 11

luckily if caught drug driving you can go to Canberra jail and shoot up safely and get free tattoos. yeah !!!

ex-vectis9:13 pm 28 Nov 11

Yep, throwing my hat into the ‘How stupid’ ring. As most folk on here, I’m all in favour of laws that help reduce road accidents. If there was a roadside drug test that showed how much THC/CBC/Opiates/Etc was in the person and there was a strict scientific limit – as per Alcohol – then I’d wear sandwich-boards outside the Legislature calling for the test. But to charge someone if they had a fat-one 48 hours ago is just politians gone crazy. But remember, we voted for them.

maybe the lunatics really are taking over the asylum.

Tooks8:35 pm 28 Nov 11

Adarian said :

Civil Liberties A.C.T tested the swab tests and found them to be around 78% accurate with a high count of false positives and false negatives…… Random Drug Testing is a violation of your Human Rights and Civil Liberties…… Innocent Until Proven Guilty…… Pedophiles are more protected than road users….

What a load of crap. Where’s your source for that?

Adarian7:08 pm 28 Nov 11

Civil Liberties A.C.T tested the swab tests and found them to be around 78% accurate with a high count of false positives and false negatives…… Random Drug Testing is a violation of your Human Rights and Civil Liberties…… Innocent Until Proven Guilty…… Pedophiles are more protected than road users….

p112:22 pm 19 May 11

fgzk said :

P1 “On many over the counter products it actually says “May cause drowsiness, if affected do not operate machinery…”, the implication being that you may or may not experience those side effects. “

Much the same as say pot may, or may not, effect your driving ability to the point of being a threat to others. Yet if we follow the same logic being applied to the present drug laws the effect of the drug on your driving is less important than the actual presence of the drug. If the warning appears on the bottle then it should be illegal to drive.

I assume you are supporting a zero BAC since any alcohol impairs you? And that all drivers keep a signed a witnessed logbook of how much they work and sleep, since fatigue impairs you? And lets not forget removing all phones, GPS’s and radios from cars, and binding and gagging and children, since distraction is a major cause of road accidents?

Police can get away with the ol’ “any pot is baaaddd…” approach because it is illegal anyway. If they try and introduce an “any codeine is baaadddd…” approach then pharmacies will have to change the way they sell the stuff.

fgzk12:07 pm 19 May 11

P1 “On many over the counter products it actually says “May cause drowsiness, if affected do not operate machinery…”, the implication being that you may or may not experience those side effects. “

Much the same as say pot may, or may not, effect your driving ability to the point of being a threat to others. Yet if we follow the same logic being applied to the present drug laws the effect of the drug on your driving is less important than the actual presence of the drug. If the warning appears on the bottle then it should be illegal to drive.

p111:49 am 19 May 11

fgzk said :

If it says on the bottle “do not operate machinery”, then regardless of what the testing officer suspects you should be tested and charged with the same zero tolerance as say pot smokers.

On many over the counter products it actually says “May cause drowsiness, if affected do not operate machinery…”, the implication being that you may or may not experience those side effects.

As to the opiates, I failed a drug test once because of over the counter codeine based pills giving a positive, and had to give a sample for proper lab testing to determine exactly what I was on. But I was under the impression that opiates were not on the list the ACT Police are testing for, since smack addicts are not a danger on the roads like those evil pot smokers.

fgzk11:42 am 19 May 11

wildturkeycanoe said :

Cheap – A lot of OTC drugs have psuedoephedrine [amphetamine ingredient] and codeine apparently converts to morphine and may test positive for opiates. The web advice from police on prescription drugs is that you can be found guilty for drug driving if the officer “suspects” you are impaired – exactly how they determine this I have no clue. That’s a big loose end and cause for alarm for regular medicine users, or anyone who falls ill for that matter.

The only loose end is that a large number of drugs that cause impairment are not tested for. If it says on the bottle “do not operate machinery”, then regardless of what the testing officer suspects you should be tested and charged with the same zero tolerance as say pot smokers.

LeatherJen11:19 am 19 May 11

Felix the Cat said :

You people seem to be forgetting one small factor. It’s actually illegal to consume ANY quantity of these drugs, let alone drive under the influence of them so I think it’s irrelevant that some of them can be detected in your system x days later. If you don’t want to be busted for illict drugs then DON”T TAKE THEM!

Exactly. It’s the same as with speed cameras. Regardless of the arguments around safety you know it’s illegal so if you’re caught you have no one to blame but yourself.

wildturkeycanoe6:19 am 19 May 11

Cheap – A lot of OTC drugs have psuedoephedrine [amphetamine ingredient] and codeine apparently converts to morphine and may test positive for opiates. The web advice from police on prescription drugs is that you can be found guilty for drug driving if the officer “suspects” you are impaired – exactly how they determine this I have no clue. That’s a big loose end and cause for alarm for regular medicine users, or anyone who falls ill for that matter.

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