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Cannabis Campaigners' Guide News Database result:
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UK: Alert over drivers who use drink to hide drug-taking
Ben Webster The Times
Tuesday 13 Aug 2002 DRIVERS who drink moderate amounts of alcohol to disguise their cannabis-taking pose a severe danger to themselves and other road users, government-commissioned research has found. Motorists who smoke even a small amount of cannabis become impaired and tend to drift out of their lane when going round corners, the Transport Research Laboratory discovered. The driving performance of those who combine one or two drinks with cannabis was even worse, even though they remained under the drink-drive limit. They drive more slowly because they are aware of their impairment, but their lack of hand-eye co-ordination and 'wobbly' driving increase the risk of crashes. Most police forces rarely test drivers for drugs because there is no reliable roadside device comparable with the Breathalyser. The RAC Foundation said that young drivers, in particular, were exploiting this gap in law enforcement by combining moderate drinking with heavy drug-taking. The foundation's research has found that young drivers are twice as likely to have been driven by someone high on drugs than over the drink-drive limit. Edmund King, the foundation's executive director, said he had received reports of young people trying to deceive police by having one or two drinks. 'They know that if they are stopped for driving erratically, the police will smell alcohol on their breath and breathalyse them. They will be allowed to drive on when they pass the test because the police are unlikely to bother testing them for drugs,' he said. Police use a variety of unscientific methods to check whether a driver has taken drugs, including asking them to walk in a straight line or stand on one leg while counting backwards. If a person fails, they are taken to a station for a blood or urine test. Almost one in five people killed in crashes have traces of illegal drugs in their system, according to government figures. Mr King said: 'This research should now convince the Government that it needs to launch nationwide publicity campaigns warning of the dangers of drug-driving. Even with relatively low doses of cannabis and alcohol, drivers are at danger of veering out of their lane.' The research involved 20 male volunteers. They were given triple vodka and tonics and cannabis before driving a simulator. The Home Office gave a licence to the University of Birmingham to import the drug.
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