Man cleared of drug-drive charges

[F420]

Wow excl.gif Whatever youre smoking I want some of it excl.gif

 

::

[SmOk3y]

http://www.news.com.au/common/story_page/0...55E1702,00.html

 

A DRIVER picked up under ground-breaking roadside drug testing in Melbourne last week is demanding an apology after police tests today confirmed his innocence.

 

John De Jong, of Ballarat, was said to have tested positive to amphetamines and cannabis when he was pulled over in his work van last week.

 

Mr De Jong maintained his innocence and said he had last smoked cannabis four weeks before he was tested.

 

He had his blood sample tested at an independent laboratory, with the results showing no traces of drugs.

 

Today, Victoria Police told Mr De Jong their own tests had confirmed he was innocent.

 

Victoria Police vowed to continue the program and are not offering Mr De Jong an apology for the stress his family has endured.

 

Mr De Jong today said he was shocked the police were refusing to say sorry.

 

"They put me in front of the media from the word go, and said I had tested positive to amphetamines and cannabis," he told AAP.

 

"Their tests and my tests show that not to be true and they are not even willing to apologise – I just think that is wrong."

 

Mr De Jong's wife Kay said the family had been aware of people in Ballarat talking about them, and said her husband deserved an apology.

 

Their 13-year-old daughter Belinda broke down as she told of the pressure on the family.

 

"We are very relieved that all this has come out now, that everyone should know now that my dad is an innocent person," Belinda said.

 

"It has been very hard on us all."

 

Mr De Jong said he was considering legal action against police.

 

AAP

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

This shit can happen if your scared for how u can be judge don't smoke better do nothing people judge u on everthing fuck them .....

as long yourself know the truth

daughter broke down do i hear a lawsuit ! must be ....

 

4 weeks in your blood does't take that long did it must be lying about that to

[Brainstorm]

What concerns me about these tests and any resulting positive from the blood test is that you won't be fined for driving under the influence of mj (my understanding is there is no law for driving under the influence of a drug) but rather for using mj.

 

There is no definitive level of intoxication for mj as there is for alchohol (.05) that the law can say you're reflexes etc. are likely to be impaired.

[Luke Skywalker]

Now that's interesting to think of, is it actually illegal to be intoxicated on an illegal substance? I thought it wasn't?

 

Course, if you can prove intoxication and at the same time driving heavy machinery, (which is what a car is... ) I would certainly advocate there being some kind of penalty, after all, they're potentially endangering lives... But I thought it wasn't illegal to be intoxicated on a substance, only illegal to be in possesion of said substances. Once you've ingested it, it's either no longer in your possesion or substantially altered by your own pysiology...

 

Any thoughts on that?

[F420]

http://www.thesundaymail.news.com.au/commo...55E2765,00.html

 

EIGHT hundred drivers have been tested for drug use in north Queensland in recent months as part of a roadside testing trial.

 

Queensland University of Technology's Centre for Accident Research and Road Safety collected saliva samples from drivers pulled up for random breath-testing in Townsville over the past three months.

 

Drivers who volunteered for the first roadside drug tests in the state were each paid $20.

 

Initial results showed cannabis and amphetamines are commonly used by drivers, although full tests results will not be known until early next year.

 

While controversial new Victoria police drug tests check drivers for cannabis and methamphetamine use, the Queensland project also tested for cocaine and heroin.

 

Drivers who chose to provide a saliva sample remained anonymous.

 

They were given assurances by researchers that police would not be given access to the samples or information from questionnaires, which included questions about their recent drug use.

 

The volunteers were asked their age, driving experience, frequency of driving as well as their recent use of illegal drugs and their frequency of driving within four hours of drug use.

 

Insurer AAMI's 2004 Crash Index revealed that 14 per cent of Queensland motorists admitted driving after using drugs including marijuana, cocaine, speed or ecstasy.

 

Centre for Accident Research and Road Safety media officer Christine Gustafson said the Queensland study had a larger sample than the AAMI study and would report on actual detection of drugs while the other study relied on self-reporting.

 

Victoria police's world-first roadside drug testing system has been criticised after a van driver reported as positive for cannabis recently was cleared in a second test by an independent laboratory.

 

In Victoria, if a driver's saliva sample tests positive for drugs, after five minutes they undergo a second test which is sent to a drug laboratory.

 

The Queensland researchers are sending the Townsville saliva samples to a Victorian laboratory for testing. It is not known if it is the same lab used by Victorian police.

 

Queensland principal researcher Dr Jeremy Davey said the aim of the Queensland research was to find out what drugs were in people's systems when they were driving, and develop education programs on the dangers of drug driving.

 

In 1999, Queensland's Parliamentary Travelsafe Committee recommended roadside drug testing.

[WantDaChronic]

IMO they are going to need something like the 0.5 limit for alcohol but in a test simular to the breathaliser......

 

hell they have made robot noses now that can smell things that have left the location hours ago.....blow into one of them and if u have bong breath your fucked

 

im quite very certain that test to indicate the level of drugs in a persons system, how intoxicated they are, etc with instant results exist, just the cops dont wanna fork out like $10 per test they have to conduct....the lower the price, the better they see it, no matter what happens in the quality area, ir. if they can pay 10 cents per test and it generally picks up cannabis in your system, no matter if its been in there for hours or weeks, they will take it.....

 

as luke said b4, its an intimidation tatic.....i know that when the trails come to nsw, if they arn't already here :thumbdown will cause alot of people to stay off the roads, even if they havent smoked in a week just because they are aware that mj can stay in the system for upto a month and they know the police tests will pickup trace amounts in their bodies....

 

IMO these tests will either fail because stoners will fight back saying they havent smoked today or arn't intoxicated from smoking and the lab tests will prove it OR they will pull a finger out and aquire decent tests that actually work....

 

as for that poor guy who's name got ran through the gutter then spat back out without even an apology, i would so sue for millions in damages and stop these fucked up tests in the process, he can do it and im cheerin him on if he decides thats the path to take :thumbsup

[Guest niall]

They're not testing for intoxication though, they're testing for the presence of illicit drugs in your system while you're in control of a motor vehicle. Most states, if not all, have laws against driving vehicles with any detectable illicit substance in your body.

 

So it's not about intoxication at all. We're testing for one of the safest drugs on the planet, one in which the evidence trends towards safer driving, but not testing for all of the prescription drugs that cause significantly more problems on the road.

 

Now if cannabis was regulated, then yes they'd have to test for intoxication, but right now they have no obligation to do this. The charge won't be possession, but driving under the influence of a banned drug.

[Luke Skywalker]

Cheers niall.

 

Do you know if it's actually illegal to be under the influence of a substance generally? With no other circumstances attached that is.

 

Bastards, we're always the first to be blamed and the last to be checked out.

[white_cluster]

one in which the evidence trends towards safer driving

 

[Brainstorm]

We're testing for one of the safest drugs on the planet, one in which the evidence trends towards safer driving,

 

Your kidding right? That's as bad as the US air force claiming feeding pilots uppers to extend their flight times won't impair their judgement during combat!!!

 

 

Please place a link to the studies and their results that show driving under the influence of mj trends towards safer driving.