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<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN class="black_content"
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style="mso-tab-count: 2"> </SPAN></SPAN><span class="black_content"><B><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt">E</SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt">XPERT</SPAN><SPAN
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<H2 class="black_content">Current Laws in Most States Inadequate to Identify and Treat Drugged Drivers</H2>
<P class=black_content style="tab-stops: .5in"> <O:P> </O:P></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="LINE-HEIGHT: 150%"><SPAN class="black_content"
style="mso-tab-count: 1"> </SPAN><span class="black_content">Washington, DC, Nov. 14—A national survey indicates that in a 12-month period nearly 9 million Americans drove within two hours of using marijuana or cocaine, but current law in most U.S. states makes it difficult to identify, prosecute, or treat drugged drivers, according to a consensus report released today.</span></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="LINE-HEIGHT: 150%"><SPAN class="black_content"
style="mso-tab-count: 1"> </SPAN><span class="black_content">“Driving under the influence of drugs, other than alcohol, has become a significant problem, but drugged drivers are not detected as often as drunk drivers.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>There is a lack of uniformity in the way state laws approach drugged driving, there are no national standards for testing drugged drivers, and too few police officers are trained to detect drivers who may be under the influence of drugs,” according to the lead author of the consensus report, Michael Walsh, Ph.D., of The Walsh Group.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Walsh is a former executive director of the President’s Drug Advisory Council.</span></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="LINE-HEIGHT: 150%"><SPAN class="black_content"
style="mso-tab-count: 1"> </SPAN><span class="black_content">Funded by The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s (RWJF) Substance Abuse Policy Research Program (SAPRP), the report reflects a consensus among national experts in substance use, traffic safety, auto insurance, and state and local law enforcement as well as representatives of advocacy groups, federal agencies, legal services, state and county attorneys, and research organizations.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>The consensus document was developed and written by Walsh on the basis of four national meetings of experts.</span></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="LINE-HEIGHT: 150%"><SPAN class="black_content"
style="mso-tab-count: 1"> </SPAN><span class="black_content">Walsh and two other members of the consensus panel—Jerry Landau, Special Assistant Maricopa County Attorney in Phoenix, Arizona, and Linda Chezem, law professor at Purdue and Indiana universities and a senior judge of the Harrison Circuit and Juvenile Court in Corydon, Indiana—were at a media briefing in Washington, D.C., today.</span></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="LINE-HEIGHT: 150%"><SPAN class="black_content"
style="mso-tab-count: 1"> </SPAN><span class="black_content">The laws affecting driving under the influence of drugs (DUID) fall into three main categories.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Some states require that the drugs render a driver “incapable of safely operating a</span></P>
<P class=black_content style="LINE-HEIGHT: 150%">vehicle.”<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Other states require that the drug “impair” the driver’s ability to operate a vehicle safely or require the driver to be “under the influence or affected by an intoxicating drug.”<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>A small group of states have “zero tolerance” or “per se” laws, which make it a criminal offense to have a drug or metabolite in the body while operating a motor vehicle.</P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="LINE-HEIGHT: 150%"><SPAN class="black_content"
style="mso-tab-count: 1"> </SPAN><span class="black_content">“The first two types of laws, which are in existence in 42 states, make it extremely difficult for the prosecutor to prove that the impairment of the driver was directly related to the drug ingested. The zero tolerance or per se laws, which are found in eight states [Arizona, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Minnesota, Rhode Island, and Utah], simply make it a criminal offense to operate a vehicle while having a drug or a drug metabolite in one’s body or bodily fluids,” according to Landau.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN></span></P>
<P class=black_content style="TEXT-INDENT: 0.5in; LINE-HEIGHT: 150%">“In the case of driving under the influence of alcohol, there is a scientifically proven and defined relationship between alcohol consumed and impaired driving.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>The presence of alcohol at standardized limits, such as 0.08 blood alcohol concentration, while operating a vehicle, in itself is a violation of the law.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>That allows for the driver to be subject to legal sanctions, and, especially, to be referred to mandatory or voluntary alcohol treatment,” Landau said.</P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="LINE-HEIGHT: 150%"><SPAN class="black_content"
style="mso-tab-count: 1"> </SPAN><span class="black_content">Unlike alcohol, drug levels in the blood, urine, or saliva affect impairment depending on the dose, the way in which the drug was ingested, the pattern or frequency of use, and the metabolism of the user, according to Landau.</span></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="LINE-HEIGHT: 150%"><SPAN class="black_content"
style="mso-tab-count: 1"> </SPAN><span class="black_content">“If we cannot identify the drugged driver, it is difficult for a judge or for a prosecutor to require that the driver go to substance abuse treatment, either voluntarily or through a court order,” according to Chezem.</span></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="LINE-HEIGHT: 150%"><SPAN class="black_content"
style="mso-tab-count: 1"> </SPAN><span class="black_content">Chezem also said that defense lawyers and experts often argue that drugs act on specific areas, functions, or receptors in the brain, and the effect varies from person to person.</span></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="LINE-HEIGHT: 150%"><SPAN class="black_content"
style="mso-tab-count: 1"> </SPAN><span class="black_content">Because DUID charges are difficult to prove, there is little or no incentive for police in most states to look for other drugs when alcohol is present, according to Chezem.</span></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="LINE-HEIGHT: 150%"><SPAN class="black_content"
style="mso-tab-count: 1"> </SPAN><span class="black_content">“While national surveys relying on self-reported data indicate that drugged driving is common, I believe that these data underestimate how many Americans are actually driving under the influence of drugs, alone and in combination with alcohol,” Walsh said. The self-reported data come from the federal government’s National Household Survey on Drug Abuse, showing that more than 9 million Americans said they had driven a vehicle within two hours of consuming an illegal drug in the past 12 months.</span></P>
<P class=black_content style="TEXT-INDENT: 0.5in; LINE-HEIGHT: 150%">The consensus statement recommends that:</P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN-LEFT: 0.75in; TEXT-INDENT: -0.25in; LINE-HEIGHT: 150%; tab-stops: list .75in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1"><SPAN class="black_content"
style="FONT-FAMILY: Symbol">·<SPAN style="FONT: 7pt 'Times New Roman'"> </SPAN></SPAN><span class="black_content">States should consider adopting zero tolerance or per se laws to identify drugged drivers and mandate evaluation and/or treatment for offenders.</span></P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN-LEFT: 0.75in; TEXT-INDENT: -0.25in; LINE-HEIGHT: 150%; tab-stops: list .75in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1"><SPAN class="black_content"
style="FONT-FAMILY: Symbol">·<SPAN style="FONT: 7pt 'Times New Roman'"> </SPAN></SPAN><span class="black_content">The law should prohibit operation of a motor vehicle when any amount of drug is present in the body.</span></P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN-LEFT: 0.75in; TEXT-INDENT: -0.25in; LINE-HEIGHT: 150%; tab-stops: list .75in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1"><SPAN class="black_content"
style="FONT-FAMILY: Symbol">·<SPAN style="FONT: 7pt 'Times New Roman'"> </SPAN></SPAN><span class="black_content">Refusing to be tested should be accompanied by sanctions, such as license suspension or revocation.</span></P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN-LEFT: 0.75in; TEXT-INDENT: -0.25in; LINE-HEIGHT: 150%; tab-stops: list .75in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1"><SPAN class="black_content"
style="FONT-FAMILY: Symbol">·<SPAN style="FONT: 7pt 'Times New Roman'"> </SPAN></SPAN><span class="black_content">There is a definite role for drug treatment in per se laws, and statutes should include evaluation, counseling, and supervised treatment for those who violate the law.</span></P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN-LEFT: 0.75in; TEXT-INDENT: -0.25in; LINE-HEIGHT: 150%; tab-stops: list .75in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1"><SPAN class="black_content"
style="FONT-FAMILY: Symbol">·<SPAN style="FONT: 7pt 'Times New Roman'"> </SPAN></SPAN><span class="black_content">Provisional licenses to permit the individual to drive to work and to a treatment center should be permitted.</span></P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN-LEFT: 0.75in; TEXT-INDENT: -0.25in; LINE-HEIGHT: 150%; tab-stops: list .75in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1"><SPAN class="black_content"
style="FONT-FAMILY: Symbol">·<SPAN style="FONT: 7pt 'Times New Roman'"> </SPAN></SPAN><span class="black_content">Drug courts should have a definite role in mandatory treatment.</span></P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN-LEFT: 0.75in; TEXT-INDENT: -0.25in; LINE-HEIGHT: 150%; tab-stops: list .75in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1"><SPAN class="black_content"
style="FONT-FAMILY: Symbol">·<SPAN style="FONT: 7pt 'Times New Roman'"> </SPAN></SPAN><span class="black_content">Police should be trained in drug detection technologies, pharmacology, and toxicology.</span></P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN-LEFT: 0.75in; TEXT-INDENT: -0.25in; LINE-HEIGHT: 150%; tab-stops: list .75in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1"><SPAN class="black_content"
style="FONT-FAMILY: Symbol">·<SPAN style="FONT: 7pt 'Times New Roman'"> </SPAN></SPAN><span class="black_content">Laboratory methods, certification, and credentialing of toxicology experts should be standardized.</span></P>
<P class=black_content style="TEXT-INDENT: 0.5in; LINE-HEIGHT: 150%">SAPRP is a $54-million program that funds studies in policies related to alcohol, tobacco, and illicit drugs.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>The consensus statement is available at <A href="http://www.saprp.org/">www.saprp.org</A>.</P>
<P class=black_content>The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (www.rwjf.org), based in Princeton, New Jersey, is the nation’s largest philanthropy devoted exclusively to health and health care.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>It concentrates its grant making in four goal areas:<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>to assure that all Americans have access to basic health care at reasonable cost; to improve care and support for people with chronic health conditions; to promote healthy communities and lifestyles; and to reduce the personal, social, and economic harm caused by substance abuse—tobacco, alcohol, and illicit drugs.</P></td>
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