Roadside drug testing will simply criminalise legal cannabis smokers
Risk roadside drug testing could make roads less safe, says researcher
The Government says we’ll have roadside drug testing in place by the end of the year. It’s been a long time coming, but some say it could make roads even riskier.
The Government’s roadside drug testing scheme is a step closer to being rolled out, but drug experts are warning it could penalise people using prescription medicines and force them to use other, undetectable and potentially more dangerous substances.
Under the scheme, police will be able to randomly saliva-test drivers for drug use – with about 25 drugs, including cocaine, methamphetamine and cannabis, in the mix.
The Chemist Warehouse sells medicinal cannabis now.
The middle classes can pay the high prices of medicinal cannabis, while those who can’t are enjoying lower prices in the black market for the first time.
The middle classes can get away with paying high prices while the poor are getting pinged more from having cannabis…
Bounce back in number of Kiwis pinged for cannabis possession
More Kiwis are facing charges for cannabis possession offences even after police were directed five years ago not to prosecute unless it was in the public interest to do so.
…enter Simeon Brown and the plans for roadside drug testing.
Cannabis is our most widely used drug, the tests won’t test impairment, they’ll just test whether you have it in your system and seeing as cannabis can stay in your system for sometime, this will see an enormous number of people failing road side tests despite not being impaired.
The Middle classes caught up in this will be able to afford the lawyers to test this in court, if you are poor you will get screwed.
Once again, the middle classes and their cannabis use will be protected, everyone else will get crushed.
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Another drug which along with alcohol has no place in the blood stream of anyone driving a car .No excuses .How can we on one hand say you cant drink and drive but on the other hand you can be stoned to the max and its ok to drive ?I hate Brown with a vengance but in this case he is doing the right thing .
The difference being you could not be impaired at all, or not have had cannabis for days and still test positive. This country has turned so f’ing puritanical that you’ll have all the ZB types saying you shouldn’t have touched it anyway. Saying that while heavily intoxicated of course.
Gordon
That is the point entire. The roadside testing regime for cannabis is not an impairment test, as there is no scientifically accurate test available. Instead the test merely indicates the presence of cannabinoid metabolites at a vanishingly low level, several orders of magnitude lower than an amount that might credibly indicate impairment. Official advice to the minister was that this approach would have the effect of re criminalizing legal users of cannabis medicine. This is the policy of prejudice, not science.
We can agree on this issue.Drugs of all type are dangerous including alcohol. The problem is different people are effected differently so there can be no one rule to cover all people .Cannabis comes in different strengths so is harder to measure its effect than alcohol .
Simple wannabes sits in your system for up to 6 weeks. Methamphetamine is out of your system sometimes within 48 hours Tell me who is more dangerous on our roads
A) someone with a 2 day hangover?
B) someone who hasn’t slept for 2 days due to methamphetime use?
C) someone who smoked a joint in the last week?
We can agree on this issue.Drugs of all type are dangerous including alcohol. The problem is different people are effected differently so there can be no one rule to cover all people .Cannabis comes in different strengths so is harder to measure its effect than alcohol .
Isn’t testing for drugs to stop impaired person from driving a vehicle, get impaired drivers off the road? These test cannot revel this with regards cannabis – you could have used some 4 weeks previous and still have residue in your fat. We got back from Canada 2 weeks ago – where it is legal (very pleasant place, not hell on earth, but a lot of pot shops – at least as much as alcohol shops). We had some CBN gummies before going on the plane (for sleep – and they worked %100 more than melatonin and sleeping pills). If my hubby is put through these road side tests it’s quite likely to come back positive. But is he safe to drive?
When everyone is an outlaw, what does that make the law? a fucking mockery. just like leaving the 30km signs out all weekend when there’s not a person or an obstacle in sight (except road cones). Or blanket speed limits of 30 km over a whole suburb that not even the cyclists and buses can stick too. Fuck the police state. You can’t regulate the human endocrine system. This will turn honest people into criminals.