The problem with National’s drug driving law and the complicity of Fairfax media to fan victim porn

This is possibly the worst victim porn Fairfax have vomited up for some time…

It’s been more than a decade since Malcolm Barnett’s stepdaughter was killed in a road crash by a meth-fuelled driver.

Yet the Taupo man believed police were still not equipped to get drug-impaired drivers off the country’s roads.

He was supporting a new member’s bill which would give officers the ability to conduct roadside saliva tests for cannabis, MDMA and methamphetamine, but said it had taken far too long for preventative steps to be taken.

“Stop dicking around. They [the government] talk about trying to make our roads safer and all the rest of it. Part of the way to make our roads safer is to get these people off the road.”

In September 2005, Krystal Bennett, 18, was driving home when disqualified driver Leah Wai Peneha drove 300 metres down the wrong side of River Rd, Upper Hutt, and into her car while high on P.

The fatal head-on crash saw Peneha convicted of the teenager’s manslaughter, but Barnett was still adamant roadside saliva testing could have prevented the teenager’s death.

After years of campaigning, Barnett has renewed his call for the government to give police the tools to drug test drivers.

“If legislation can only be done at Parliament level, then get something done … give police the power to do it.

“This is not going to save our daughter, but if we can save some other poor bastard going through what we’ve had to, then that’s got to be a bonus,” Barnett said.

…ot takes almost half of this story wallowing in victim porn before it even tells you want this story is actually about.

While every lose of life is a tragedy, I’m not sure what the hell the relevance of dredging up a road death over a decade old is other than to generate manufactured anger.

380 people died last year on the roads while 606 committed suicide last year. Thousands more died because of booze and tobacco so to start demanding specific legislation for drug driving because of one death a decade ago seems extravagant in the extreme.

Here’s the problem. With cannabis being our most used illegal drug in NZ, this test will pick up thousands of drivers who might have cannabis in their system but no driving impairment. That means thousands more clogging our judicial system and thousands being punished for testing positive to a drug test that doesn’t actually show if the person is impaired while driving.

This is the exact same drug hysteria that led to the meth contamination scam in houses that needlessly costed millions.

Giving the police more powers to solve a problem looking for a solution is the worst kind of social policy.

To be effective the test would need to create an impairment level for cannabis, but I don’t think the National Party are even capable of understanding the nuance.