The attack on drugged
driving by over-zealous law enforcement has been an issue in the past, particularly
in Los Angeles, where a state grant was used in 2013 to supply DUI checkpoints
with oral drug swab testing equipment. During the holiday season in 2013, police
were supplied with Q-tips and a "black box" which, in theory, would
detect the presence of drugs in saliva.
The problem with this
technology is that measurable impairment concentrations of drugs can't be found,
only the mere presence of a substance in saliva. Additionally, both the DRE
(Drug Recognition Evaluation) program and per se levels were developed because
law enforcement and prosecutors could not prove impairment by drugs in the same
manner they could prove impairment from alcohol.
Then police created DRE
and then per se levels for drugs so they could prosecute DUI-drug cases. Even
Marcelline Burns, who helped develop the DRE program admitted in published
papers that the alcohol model does not work for drugs. The truth of the matter
is that positive blood, urine or breath tests prove nothing but prior exposure,
and only when they have been confirmed by Gas Chromatography/Mass Spectrum
analysis.
Proving impairment from body fluid tests is impossible. There is just too much
variability from person to person, and I am not aware of any controlled studies
that can establish a range that fits everyone, any more than we can all wear
the same pair of glasses.
Follow this link to
the December 2013 NBC-LA news report.
For over 30 years I have
been defending good people charged with serious crimes like DUI. Call me for a
free, no obligation consultation.
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