MPs warned of flaws in in Govt’s drugdriving Bill

WELLINGTON: There are still holes in the Government’s drugdriving legislation, which could lead to an exacerbation of Maori incarceration and push some drug users towards more harmful substances, members of Parliament have heard.

There are also concerns the technology needed to implement a comprehensive antidrugdriving regime in New Zealand does not exist.

MPs yesterday heard from several key submitters on the Land Transport (Drug Driving) Amendment Bill, which would give police the power to perform random drug tests.

Under the proposed law, any driver who failed two consecutive oral fluid tests would incur an infringement penalty, aligned to the drinkdriving infringement penalty.

The Bill passed its first reading and is now going through the select committee process, in which MPs will refine it before the House votes for it to come into law.

New Zealand Medical Association chief executive Lesley Clarke told the committee the Bill, as it stood, had ‘‘flaws and weaknesses’’.

‘‘Our view is that the science to support roadside oral fluid testing is not quite sufficiently advanced.’’

Chief among Ms Clarke’s concerns was that roadside oral fluid drug testing only detected the presence, or absence, of a small panel of common drugs.

Because of this, the Bill could encourage cannabis users to switch to more harmful substances such as synthetic cannabinoids to evade detection by roadside oral drug testing, she said.

‘‘[That] defeats the purpose and creates bigger problems.’’

She said the technology needed to be much further along so it was able to detect all illicit drugs.

In addition, as the Bill stood, drugtesting would not detect impairment — rather, just the presence of drugs in someone’s system; that meant people might receive convictions for drugdriving despite the fact they were not actually impaired, Ms Clarke said.

‘‘We have particular concerns that the Bill would exacerbate equities for Maori and the clinical criminal justice system,’’ she said.

That was because there was already a disproportionately high number of Maori in jail for cannabisrelated offences, she said.

Police Association president Chris Cahill was supportive of the legislation.

‘‘We only have to look at the atrocious numbers of deaths on the roads that we can contribute to drugdrivers to know it’s time to do something about it.’’

However, he did highlight some areas in which the Bill could be improved.

He recommended that any driver who returned a positive oral drug test or who had had two or more convictions within the previous four years for drugdriving should have their vehicle impounded immediately.

As the Bill stands, the vehicle of someone caught twice is seized after 28 days.

During that time, a vehicle could easily be sold, Mr Cahill said.

Road Transport Forum chief executive Nick Leggett said drug testing should be done on everyone involved in accidents on the road.

‘‘It should be a routine test, like alcohol, given the stats about drivers and fatal accidents as a portion of drugs in the system.’’ — The New Zealand Herald