Round Up On Pot Digs Innocent's Plots

Candor Trust

Candor members support the ethos of J-day, insofar as it highlights the mounting body count of unseenly prohibition hi-jinks by Police, which includes 100 yearly drug driver caused deaths (half innocent road users).

But Spokeswoman Rachael Ford says a concern is that when Steve Hager appealed in a 1998 issue of High Times for 4:20PM to be the socially accepted hour of the day to become intoxicated on cannabis, he forgot that this shortly precedes the normal time to drive home.

A new Massey University survey has found driving under the influence of drugs is at least as big a problem as drink-driving. Recent cannabis use imparts equal to double the impairment seen at the alcohol limit due to loss of most skills (Cognition and motor control, Ramaekers, Drug and Alcohol Dependence 85, 2006).

At concentrations >5 ng/ml of the active component THC people are 6.6x more likely to cause crashes, similar to being at a very high blood alcohol concentration (Drummer et al, 2004). The roads are populated by approximately 5x as many drug drivers as drunk ones (80-100,000). They cause 20% of the road toll almost unopposed.

This is a trickle down of the Misuse of Drugs Act misdirecting Police resources away from their No 1 proper target - defeating drug driving. Only 15 convictions were entered since last November's law change, and curious “safety” publicity issued by Police has spilled the greens that even staggering drug drivers should have no trouble aceing new tests.

Sergeant Terry Richards said US scientists had determined that those who failed the impairment test had an impairment level equivalent to a blood-alcohol reading of 100mg of alcohol per litre of blood (25% higher than the blood alcohol limit).

This higher DUI "bust" bar gives pot smokers an ability to legally be at 20x the crash risk found in someone at the alcohol limit. Males under 21 with a 0.1 blood alcohol are at 241x normal risk. Cannabis activists have taken comfort in such reassurances of leniency, with a web based poll yesterday showing that 95% have felt no need to stop driving stoned as a result of the new test.

The misallocation of scarce Police resource on a fools errand of trying to eradicate weed, places the State in breach of Human Rights instruments that require World Governments to protect life "by placing effective criminal law provisions to deter the commission of offences against the person backed up by law enforcement machinery".

If Police had vertebrae and half a brain they would be setting up a road safety education booth at todays 420 protests, and using the accurate new 90 second saliva tests to check departing attendees are driving safe beneath reasonable cannabis limits. But Police are avid "weeders not good deeders" - it's like raiding a drink drivers liquor cabinet once in a blue moon then hoping for no trouble, say Candor.

$2000 heli flights to spot weeds don't save lives, the confiscation of pot smoking magazines containing advice not to drive drug impaired does not save lives. Constant abuse of checkpoint contacts to search cars for drugs undoubtedly cause deaths, given studies show drug using drivers will quickly consume their drugs so as to avoid possession charges.

Worse still, many young drug fiend suspects will bolt when cornered, triggering high speed Police chases of ultimate risk. The 2009 Police chase inquiry by Justice Goddard confirmed that cannabis user status is a prime risk factor for death by pursuit in NZ.

6000 cannabis possession charges a year have only served to maintain leading youth use rates in New Zealand per UN comparisons, although prohibition's niggling shadow likely assists the decline in the prevalence of cannabis influenced driving after age 24 who better manage risk.

States with decriminalisation and random drug testing report reducing youth use, alongside higher consumption in older users who're less of a road safety concern. The safest States have prohibition sans emphasis on possession charges complemented by random drug testing, or else cannabis decriminalisation and heavy random drug testing.

In contrast to proper Police conduct, the NZ Road Police are strangely determined to lie about the reason for shirking. Weeding by day and door knocking to inform of drug driving deaths by night while their Managers claim that "the facts around drug driving are not clear", as they seek to focus the Public on accepting an impotent 0.05 drink limit of high revenue value.

Australian Police are far less shifty in their post under-belly era. Like Police everywhere bar here they doggedly explain that drugs are as great a problem as alcohol, doing so in Arabic, Chinese, Greek, Italian, Macedonian, Croatian, Polish, Russian, Turkish, Spanish and Somali.

ENDS

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