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Legislative Council - Fifty-Third Parliament, Second Session (53-2)
2016-11-02 Daily Xml
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Drug Driving

The Hon. T.J. STEPHENS (14:54): I have a supplementary question. Can the minister explain to the chamber the process of testing for drug driving? There was a time when a specific unit had to be available. Has that changed or have we increased the number of drug-testing units?

The Hon. P. MALINAUSKAS (Minister for Police, Minister for Correctional Services, Minister for Emergency Services, Minister for Road Safety) (14:55): That is a good question and I will attempt to answer it from memory. I think I can do it with a degree of confidence because it is something I have discussed on more than one occasion with members of SAPOL. However, I will qualify that I am making these remarks from memory and acting on advice.

I am advised that there is a clear distinction in terms of process between drug driving and drink-driving. The breathalyser test that occurs for drink-driving can detect the presence of alcohol in such a way that demonstrates that it has an inhibiting effect on someone's capacity to make decisions in the course of driving. That is distinct from what happens in the case with drugs. Drug tests do not test the level: they test the presence. There is a fundamental distinction.

The technology put in place for drug driving is evolving and it is something that I have asked SAPOL to keep abreast of because, if SAPOL has recommendations about what we can invest in to improve drug-driving tests, that is something that the government is very keen to know about. The process as it stands now, as I understand it, is that a person is pulled over and takes an oral test at the roadside. If that oral test delivers a positive result, then that is double-checked through another analysis that is done through a completely different machine that can be had roadside within a unit or in a drug-driving testing vehicle or facility. That is a secondary test.

Should that test confirm the positive result, that then necessitates a third part of the process, which is an actual blood test, as I understand it. There are three separate tests along the way to confirm a positive result, which is far different to what occurs with drink-driving. That is the process as I understand it currently, but I have asked SAPOL to keep abreast of any technological developments that occur anywhere around the world that might change that process or increase the level or accuracy or, indeed, allow us to test for the level of drugs in the system as distinct from just the mere presence.

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