By Derek Cornet

RCMP trained as drug recognition experts to detect impaired driving

Oct 30, 2018 | 5:00 PM

With cannabis now openly sold online and at storefronts across the province, RCMP officers trained as drug recognition experts will be on the lookout for impaired drivers.

Const. Brian Woelders of the La Ronge RCMP recently completed his training as a drug recognition expert, which involved a two-week course in Regina before he travelled to Florida for a field study and examinations last May. He said roughly 20 officers from throughout Saskatchewan attended the training designed to educate law enforcement members to detect the presence of drug use related to impaired driving.

“It’s a pretty intense course,” Woelders said. “As part of that, we learned standardized tests we take the person who was driving through. It takes about 45 minutes to an hour.”

If a motorist is suspected of being impaired by drugs, Woelders would determine if they are by interviewing the person, as well as performing physical and clinical tests. He added those tests include balance checks to see if the individual can walk properly, along with examining their blood pressure and watching how their pupils dilate to dark and bright light. While Woelders said physical signs of impairment can sometimes be hidden, clinical signs are always there.

If there is enough reason to believe an individual is impaired, Woelders would then demand a urine sample from them, which would later be sent to a lab and screened for drugs. He said the resulting toxicology report would then be used as evidence should impaired driving charges arise. If a person refuses to provide a fluid sample, the consequences are the same as refusing a breath test.

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“With drugs, there isn’t that roadside screening device,” Woelders said. “There are field-testing kits to test if a person recently consumed cannabis, but as of right now the RCMP doesn’t have that. I know SGI has plans and programs to implement across the province.”

Woelders noted, however, the time will likely come when the RCMP will be equipped with a roadside test for detecting cannabis. He said police in Europe, Colorado and Washington have such tests, which examine drug levels in saliva.

derek.cornet@jpbg.ca

Twitter: @saskjourno