^^^
4. Why can I take my valium or xanax or temazepam or stilnox on prescription and then legally be allowed to drive?!!!
The whole idea of drug testing drivers is flawed. How can the presence of drugs in my saliva indicate whether or not ‘under the influence’ or fit to drive or not?
Aside from the practical issues of testing for prescription-drug driving, I'm guessing there would be too much opposition from many groups in society, including politicians, if the police expressed an interest in improving road safety by netting drivers 'impaired' by licit drugs. Illicit drug users are still a nice convenient target group in Australia in 2005, so political points are a toasty bonus served with the (potential) improvement in road safety that comes with random testing.
Far less enthusiasm (less political points) would be thrown the way of the police if they claimed that patients ('poor sick people') on all kinds of legal drugs ('healing therapeutic medicines') were causing "carnage" on our roads, and that they should be Drug-Wiped off the road too, because legitimately ill people are nowhere near as good targets as illicit drug users; however, the ambiguous statistics about the presence of drugs in the blood of people involved in road accidents leaves the argument about what drugs/drug combinations are causing this supposed "carnage" wide open. So it cannot yet be argued that prescription drug users are not being targeted because illicit drug users cause the majority of accidents.... Which leaves us with room to accuse governments of having ulterior motives behind the random drug testing campaign. (I haven't seen any specific statistics, maybe someone out there has).
Further, you can't take your benzos or stilnox and legally drive if your ability to drive is impaired as a result. If the police pull you over and reasonably suspect that you are driving whilst impaired by a chemical, they still have the authority to test your impairment with some physical tests of co-ordination etc., and if they then still reasonably suspect that you are impaired, they will ask you to submit a blood sample for analysis which you are then obliged to provide. Ofcourse, it is less likely that you will get busted in this way than with the random drug test.....
Lastly I just one to point out one more thing. Where is the logic in pulling over drivers, drug testing them and yet (admittedly thankfully) not searching that person or their vehicle when they test positive to drugs?!
They could have recouped their losses if they’d have checked my handbag let alone my car!
Thankfully, if the whole drug-testing shammozle is motivated by a desire to assault illicit drug users in society, it has to be approached in a pretty covert manner. So, police can't say that an initiative designed to improve ROAD safety should entitle them to a coupon for one free search of vehicle and person - the issue is not what drugs you have in your car, but whether or not you are being a safe and considerate motorist. What is in your body fluids is of concern to the cops; what is in your pocket is your own business.
You see, if they were to catch someone who tested positive for cannabis, chances are that the person has just had a choof with a few mates and is on their way home. They remove him from the road and their job is done, in line with their mission. It would be very non-civil libertarian of them to shit all over that person's privacy and personal freedom by subjecting them to a personal search (on top of an already invasive saliva search), which would in most cases yield nothing more than a little bud or a crusty roach. It would also open the floodgates for people to (rightfully) accuse the police of mounting a campaign against personal liberty in the guise of a road safety campaign, and the louder the voice of political and grassroots opposition to real or potential abuse of authority in this country, the less chance there is of our police force disintegrating into a gestapo. This is probably the reason that the police make a conscious effort to avoid conducting searches on anyone who tests positive to a roadside drug test - I'm yet to hear of a personal search conducted in tandem with a positive test result.