Press Release - Candor Trust
Drug driving blood evidence safe

Comments by lawyer Mark Edgar regarding drug blood court evidence as recently reported by the news media are somewhat misleading, say Candor Trust.

He claimed that a joint smoked the day before could produce high blood readings for the drug in their system the next day, despite the user by then being unimpaired.

Mr Edgar along with NORML (per alarmist nonsense in their Press Release) fails to understand that our highly skilled scientists at the ESR do not test for the cannabis metabolite that shows up at high concentrations such as 45ng/ml 12 hours after use.

The Department of Environmental and Scientific Research confirmed to Candor Trust today that it would not be testing for THC-COOH under the new drug driving law. That would be senseless.

It would instead continue to test for the impairing substance Delta 9 THC which it currently tests driver blood samples for. The comments of Mr Edgar are therefore irrelevant.

Delta 9 THC has usually dropped to a level below 5ng (the cut off level regarded as significantly impairing in Europe) within 3 hours of heavy use.

Research also shows that the people Mr Edgar has concerns for ie those driving a day after use who have high levels of THC COOH still in their blood would show a test result of under 1ng/ml of impairing delta 9 THC.

No prosecutor in any country having impairment based legislation that uses blood as evidence of impaired driving would dream of filing criminal charges against a person with such low Delta 9 THC levels.

The following claims made by NORML NZ today are also ill informed but dangerous red herrings;

"Drug tests do not even measure THC, the active ingredient in cannabis. Instead, they test for the presence of THC-COOH, a non-psychoactive metabolite of THC that remains in the body up to 3 months after a person has straightened up."

"We would be less concerned if the blood test actually measured impairment, but it doesn't.

Instead, all it shows is that a person has at some point come into contact with cannabis, which could be up to three months ago."

Mr Edgar was at least correct in advising that a Delta 9 THC cut off level in blood samples would be an important component for the life saving new legislation.

Only by setting a level where driving would become off limits can drug users be enabled to begin modifying their behaviour with some confidence they are not driving impaired.

Only be setting an evidence based level such as 5ng will drivers not be rendered so paranoid they will be scared off the road for an eternity, after just one good night out - without cause.

A limit enables educational efforts to proceed. And would enable responsible smokers to buy technology such as saliva tests which will help them to find out if they are in the normal  time-frames for metabolising pot ie are able to drive safely within a few hours of a joint.

Or to drive in many cases after a much shorter duration - if only a cone has been consumed. As with alcohol, a persons driving impairment and duration of impairment is dose related.

Light smokers should not face much lifestyle change if the upcoming legislation is robust and targets risk rather than use, as is the underpinning principle.

Candor Trust is disappointed that factions within the cannabis community are providing   bad information that could engender ill will toward a law that will save many young lives.

Field Tests and blood testing eliminated a high cannabis toll among young male drivers after a recent 2 year campaign in Northern England.

Reference - Department of Transport report 809 725 April 2004

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