LETTER: 'Unreliable tests on cannabis are unnecessary'
Source: Essex Evening Gazette
Pub Date: Wednesday August 16 2000
Published letter: Unreliable tests on cannabis are unnecessary
Author: Alun Buffry
Web site: http://www.thisisessex.co.uk
Contact: gazette_postbag@theisisessex.co.uk
DON Barnard in his letter "Testing time for cannabis control" (postbag August 10) about roadside drug tests being used by the police makes one wonder exactly why these tests were devised in the first place.
His letter brings into question the quality of the evidence provided by these tests, particularly regarding prosecutions.
Positive tests results for cannabis can be produced after passive inhalation, consumption of foods containing hemp seed or its oils, legal medications or the ingestion of cannabis even after MONTHS previously.
Scientific studies of the effects of driving performance after smoking cannabis carried out in the Netherlands and in Australia, have long ago declared that the detrimental effects are tiny.
The Dutch government, which allows cannabis use and sale from certain outlets ("coffee shops"), has no special laws for drivers who smoke it.
So why use unnecessary tests that produce unreliable results?
Alun Buffry
P0 Box 198
Norwich