For my sins, I am currently one of the two local FME's in Scarborough. One of
the irritating jobs is to assess the fitness to drive due to drugs which can
of course be difficult. If the FME says there is evidence of drug intoxication
then the boys in blue are entitled to request a blood test (they could request
urine which I believe gives better results but they prefer blood in our patch)
One of the problems is that a good brief can get the punter off by saying that
they are addicted and consequently the level found in the blood is tolerated
by the driver so the mere presence of a drug will not get a prosecution like
it can for alcohol.
What of the drug addict who drives whilst withdrawing?
I saw this as a registrar in orthopaedics. There was a death in the other car
and the driver had severe leg fractures. His 8 year old son who was unharmed
and concerned for his dad, said did it matter that his father had not taken
his methadone or DF118 for two days?
>I was called into the hospital recently to deal with casualties from a >road
traffic accident. No fatalities thankfully, but 4 out of the 6(!) >in the car
had serious injuries. The usual problem of alcohol and people >not wearing seatbelts.
On this occasion I managed to find out that they >had also been on ecstasy and
smoking cannabis that night. The driver had >no recollection of the accident
due to the combination of drugs taken.
>
>The police will prosecute because the individual failed the alcohol >test....
but and this is the reason I am moved to write. It is very >likely that the
Police would not have taken this further if the driver >had not failed the alcohol
test. In short other drugs are usually not >considered by the police even though
they may have been contributary to >the road "accident". The Police don't have
a simple test that they >routinely use for other drugs.
>
>The problem with cannabis is that it's half life is 57 hours so can be >detected
in the body for a long time. Cannabis has caused road accidents >but there seems
no mechanism for the Police to target this.
>
>
>Any thoughts?
>
>Ray McGlone
>
>A&E Consultant
>Royal Lancaster Infirmary / Westmorland General Hospital
>
>http://www.mbha.nhs.uk/morecambe_bay_hospitals_trust.htm
>
>
>
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