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Feds promise crackdown on drug-impaired drivers
Monique Tamminga | News Leader | Jul 28 2006

Those who choose to get high and drive may no longer be getting a free ride in Canada.

The federal Conservatives are looking at ways to combat drug-impaired driving through stronger enforcement legislation that can lead to prosecution.

“Department of Justice lawyers are working on legislation which will help police deal with drug-impaired drivers,” said Langley MP Mark Warawa on Wednesday.

He made the announcement at a press conference organized by Langley RCMP on the issue of teens’ lax attitudes toward smoking pot and getting behind the wheel of a car. Politicians, police and youth counsellors joined forces to say this is a problem that should be taken seriously.

Langley resident Helen Featherston knows all too well about the dangers of driving high. In April 2002, she lost her 16-year-old son Simon in a horrific single-vehicle car crash. Court testimony indicated the driver was under the influence of marijuana.

The crash also killed another boy, Dayton Unger.

“I would hope that my son’s death would prevent someone else’s death,” said Featherston at the press conference. “We are devastated. He was our only child, we were very close.”

Simon didn’t know the driver of the Mustang. “Parents can’t be apathetic, if you want to save your child, get in their face about things,” she said.

The driver, 16 at the time, was the first person in B.C. to be charged with drug-impaired driving. Because of a technicality, the charge was dropped.

Police are hoping the federal legislation will allow for mandatory bodily fluid samples from suspected drug impaired drivers.

“Give us the legislation piece that is missing. At roadside checks if we suspect someone of drug impaired driving we [want the person] to submit a bodily fluid sample,” said drug recognition expert and RCMP drug awareness co-ordinator Cpl. Beth Blackburn.

At roadside checks, she’s seen an increase in teens driving while high, many of whom believe it’s safe to do.

Warawa worries that mandatory drug-testing wouldn’t get past a Charter challenge. Through current provincial legislation, police can’t demand a blood or urine sample for drugs but can for alcohol. They can impound a person’s car or suspend a driver’s licence if they suspect the driver of being impaired by drugs.

He’s hoping the new legislation will give police more enforcement powers as well as increase the ability to prosecute under the Criminal Code.

Also in attendance was B.C. Solicitor General John Les, B.C. Coroner’s Service’s Vince Stancato, Langley school district representatives, and Langley’s police chief Supt. Janice Armstrong.

All had the same message: Society’s lax attitude towards marijuana use is having a dangerous impact on teens.

“Thankfully, over the past 40 years there has been a societal shift in terms of people’s tolerance of drinking and driving. That casual attitude is gone,” said Les at the press conference. “That same ethic has to apply to drug abuse and driving.”

In April, 29 teens from Langley high schools were arrested near the school grounds for smoking pot.

“The students smoked up during the break and were going to go back to class,” said Langley police spokesperson Cpl. Diane Blain.

Of the teens arrested, 28 were referred to Langley Youth and Family Services, while one was charged with drug trafficking.

“The pervasive belief amongst those teens is [pot] is legal and harmless,” said LYFS’s Jim Smith. “Getting caught may change their behaviour but not their attitude. It’s acceptable to them and we need to shift that perception.”

Smith said adults must take some of the blame for supporting ‘the myths’ put out their about pot.

Not many teens realize that Bill C-17, which would have legalized possession of small quantities of pot,was defeated, said Warawa.

“Many youth think simple possession is legal. It’s not,” he said.

Details of the legislation are expected this fall.