| Toking Granny | Toronto Star Wheels - 03/05/05 | |
Apparently Durham Regional Police stopped a woman in Oshawa last month because she had an expired licence plate, then discovered she’d allegedly been puffing on pot while driving her uninsured car with her two young grandchildren along for the ride, neither one of whom were in a car seat or wearing a seatbelt.
The woman was charged with several Highway Traffic Act offences, plus possession of a controlled substance.
Brings whole new meaning to “taking a trip with Granny”, doesn’t it?
Hmmm, let’s see, she had enough cash to buy dope but not to pay for her licence plate sticker or car insurance. Okay that’s just bad prioritizing, but not buckling up the grandkids is reprehensible, and smoking up while driving with those two in the car is both inexcusable and criminal.
Drug-driving, drug-impaired driving, DUID, whatever you call it, it’s a serious problem and we need to get serious about stopping it and prosecuting people stupid enough to do it.
Don’t think it’s a widespread problem? Well, according to the 2003 Ontario Student Drug Use Survey, the percentage of drivers in grades ten to twelve who reported driving a vehicle within one hour of using cannabis (20%) is higher than those reporting driving within an hour of consuming two or more drinks (14%).
Now add that small sample to other teens across the country then factor in the twentysomethings on up to the toking grannies (medicinal purposes or otherwise). And we haven’t even mentioned those drivers using cocaine, Ecstasy, LSD, barbiturates, or some other drug of choice.
Then there’s the whole over-the-counter medicine-taking crowd who scoff at that little “May cause drowsiness. Do not operate heavy machinery.” warning label.
And let’s not forget the vast prescription drug-taking population who swallow commonly prescribed medications with little or no thought as to the possible side effects.
Many standard medications can affect one’s ability to drive, for example: Roche USA, makers of Accutane®, a prescription acne drug, warns on the company website about decreased night vision, sometimes sudden, and advises patients to be cautious when driving or operating any vehicle at night.
First-generation antihistamines (e.g. diphenhydramine, clemastine), frequently taken for colds and allergies, have long been known to significantly impair driving capacity.
Other research has shown that the timing of doses of methylphenidate, a common attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) medication, can affect adolescent drivers’ performance.
Even so-called natural herbals come into play, with a driver in California recently serving 30 days in jail after being convicted of driving under the influence – of kava, (Piper methysticum) a herbal drink, made from a plant grown in the Pacific Islands, often used to relieve anxiety, muscle tension and insomnia.
Of course, taking several drugs at once, prescription or otherwise, or combining drugs with alcohol adds a whole new dimension to the problem.
In Australia, where the world’s first random roadside drug-driving tests are taking place (saliva-testing for THC and methamphetamines only), alarmed authorities report the drug-driving rate to be two and a half times the nation’s alcohol-impaired driving rate.
Meanwhile in Canada last December the government gave first reading to Bill C-16; legislation that would give police the authority to demand physical tests and bodily fluid samples from suspected drug-impaired drivers. Currently, though drug-impaired driving is a Criminal Code offence, bodily-fluid tests for drug impairment are voluntary thus police must often rely only on outward signs of impairment, driving behaviour and eyewitnesses.
Much of the accompanying $6.9 million in proposed funding is slated to go towards training officers as Drug Recognition Experts and establishing standardized field sobriety tests. But unlike Canada’s countrywide Breathalyzer tests and limit of .08 BAC, establishing standard criminal levels of drug impairment is a more complicated matter. This is due in part to the sheer number of different drugs and combinations of drugs that can cause impairment, plus the legalities and logistics of gathering body fluids (urine, saliva or blood). Further problems arise from the fact that the presence of some drugs can be medically detected in the body long after actual impairment was ceased.
While the legal wrangling over new comprehensive drug-driving laws continues, why can’t we, at a grassroots level, make drug-impaired driving just as socially unacceptable as alcohol-impaired driving? Or, at the very least make people aware of the problem and take responsibility for themselves.
Every driver should make a point of finding out about the side effects of the prescription and OTC medications they take and be smart enough to remove themselves from behind the wheel if warranted. Friends need to take the car keys out of the hands of their drug-impaired friends and be their designated driver, or arrange for one. Families need to discuss the issue, and parents must never allow their children to ride in a car with any person they even remotely suspect of driving while drug or alcohol impaired.
And yes, that even includes Grandma.