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Cannabis Campaigners' Guide News Database result:
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Sharp difference between Finland and Sweden in arrests of drugged drivers
Helsingin Sanomat Friday 23 Sep 2011 According to figures put out by TISPOL, the organisation of European traffic police, Finnish police stopped about 37,000 motorists during a European-wide crackdown in June. Only four were suspected of having being impaired by drugs other than alcohol, while 96 were over the legal limit for alcohol. In Sweden, 95,000 motorists were examined. More than 200 were suspected of being under the influence of drugs, and nearly 400 were suspected of alcohol intoxication. "This sounds like a very big difference. Drugged drivers do not get caught in Finland", says Matti Tolvanen, Professor of Criminal and Procedural Law at the University of Eastern Finland. "In Sweden, the tactics and the technology are better than with us", Tolvanen said, commenting on the unusual figures. At the Finnish National Traffic Police, Pasi Kemppainen agrees partly with Professor Tolvanen. "The Swedes have worked long, as have the Norwegians, to learn to recognise the external characteristics of a driver using drugs. The Swedes have extensive training in the matter." Finnish police have a quick test for drugs. In the complicated world of illegal drugs and psychoactive medicines, the tester is far from perfect. "The equipment side is moving ahead. Thirty years ago police would smell a driver's breath. Then came plastic bags with crystals, and they were followed by breathalysers with an analogue display. Now they are ditigal", Kemppainen says, detailing the development of DUI inforcement. There are thousands of intoxicants and medicines that can impair a driver's performance. In addition, people mix different drugs. "We would like a device that would give a relatively reliable result, as is the case with the breathalysers", Kemppainen says. The quick testers used by Finnish police have proven to be less reliable than had been hoped, often giving a false positive result for cannabis, cocaine, or opiates. For those drugs, a false positive result is more than twice as common as a correct result. The testers are better at detecting amphetamines. Deputy Parliamentary Ombudsman Jussi Pajuoja last year urged police not to rely too much on the results of the test. In the case in question, a driver tested positive for amphetamine and cannabis; police kept him in jail overnight and imposed a temporary driving ban. Later tests indicated that the positive tests were inaccurate, and the suspicious behaviour that alerted the police had been caused by a brain tumour. Drugs and illegal medicines are involved in about one out of five fatal accidents in which the driver has been impaired. A grey area involves legal medicines, such as sleeping drugs. Kemppainen recalls that according to one estimate, one in 10,000 drivers in morning traffic are impaired somewhat by sleeping medicines taken the previous night. According to a study by the National Public Health Institute, the number of drivers caught impaired by illegal drugs or pharmaceuticals increased 18-fold between 1977 and 2007. In 2007 nearly 4,300 were caught. Six sevenths of those caught were men. http://www.hs.fi/english/article/Sharp+difference+between+Finland+and+Sweden+in+arrests+of+drugged+drivers+/1135269548350
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