Roadside drug tests delayed.

[Tom]

Roadside drug tests delayed

By Kenneth Nguyen

July 1, 2004

 

Random drug testing of Victorian motorists, which was scheduled to begin today, has been delayed and may not begin until the end of the year, police said yesterday.

 

It was also revealed that when the testing begins motorists will have to wait about five minutes for their tests to be processed before they are allowed to proceed on their journey.

 

Inspector Martin Boorman of the police traffic and alcohol section said that despite today being the date when testing was to have begun, police were yet to decide on which testing device they would use.

 

"It's simply taken us longer than we expected it to," Mr Boorman said. "We've put into place a very comprehensive (technology) testing regime and we're not prepared to compromise that... for the sake of starting things on time."

 

He would not say when the roadside tests would begin, but said they would be in place "as soon as possible and certainly this year".

 

Parliament last year passed legislation allowing police to check for the presence of cannabis and methamphetamines in motorists' saliva.

 

Police will continue to check for other drugs - including heroin, GHB and other barbiturates and opiates - through existing processes, which allow them to take urine or blood samples from drivers who fail impairment assessments.

 

Asked whether police were concerned by the five-minute delay involved in roadside drug testing, Mr Boorman said: "We're always concerned about inconvenience caused to people, but we're hoping that, as has happened with alcohol, the community recognises this is a serious risk to them and will support us.

 

"I've got no doubt that, as technology develops, we'll have devices that do it quicker."

 

Police have said that the focus of the tests would be heavy-vehicle drivers and areas where rave and dance parties were held.

 

Drugs were detected in more than 30 per cent of Victorian drivers killed in road accidents last year, Mr Boorman said.

 

Author: Kenneth Nguyen

Date: July 1, 2004

Source: The Age.

Copyright: Copyright © 2004. The Age Company Ltd.

 

[LongFingers]

Hi Tom,

 

Here's something that may interest you, feel free to edit and put it somewhere else if it is not suitable here.......

 

In Vic, they have the billboards which they post on trailers etc saying stuff like 'wipe off five' etc etc. This is the TAC that do those photos.

 

Recently I was involved in working with these people whilst they were doing one of their photo shoots.

 

The theme was 'drug testing'.

 

Yippee, I thought, coppers and media.

 

I got a bit cheeky and rolled a fat one and got cheerfully stoned, then proceeded to talk with some of the highest ranking police officers in Victoria about this drug testing.

 

They were very coy about it all, and over the next 6 or so hours, I pieced together snippets on what I did get out of them.

 

They could have been bullshitting me but apparently, and this is from a coppers mouth, apparently the THC is detectable up to 3 (Three) hours after ya have a smoke.

 

Because they were shooting this photo-shoot with coppers pretending to test the driver in the shoot, they had to use the devices planned for us Victorians. As they hadn't decided one which one they were to use for motorists, they had to reshoot every photo, but using the different devices.

 

I got to see how each of these devices worked. There were 3 I think, I had thought that there were 5, but I will check as I drew pictures of them at home. These are some I am sure on......

 

1. This device worked like a tongue scraper, quite simple.

 

2. Was like an accordian type thing that basically sucked in saliva. Rectangular in shape, had a little handle piece and the rest was like a plastic rippled container, looked like you could compress itm then put in mouth and as it retracted, it took in saliva.

 

3. Was almost like a plastic syringe, had an inlet on one end and obviously the cop pulls the other and sucks saliva in.....

 

ITs gonna make it hard for drivers......

 

I know I calm right down when I drive stoned, drive straight and I am a road rage nightmare......

 

Cheers and cones

 

LF