(Marijuananews note: This is an important ruling
because of what did not happen. There was a clear absence of reefer madness here. Was it
important that the study linked below came out between the conviction linked just below
that, and the sentencing reported here?)See
Australian Study Of 2,500
Injured Drivers Showed Those Who Used Marijuana
Less Likely To Have Caused Accident Than Even Drug-Free Drivers
– But How Do The Swedish Prohibitionists Report It?
and
Meanwhile In
Australia, It Is Business As Usual;
A Driver Found Guilty Of Causing Accident While Under Influence Of Cannabis;
In Western Australia Cannabis Accounts For 75% Of All Drug Arrests -- 2 Articles
October 28, 1998
From The Age
letters@theage.fairfax.com.au
http://www.theage.com.au/
By Stephen Cauchi
DRUG-TEST DRIVER WALKS FREE
A man who became the first driver in Victoria to be accurately tested for marijuana use
after he was involved in a fatal accident walked free from a court yesterday.
Cameron Hilliard Brown, 20, of Scoresby Road, Ferntree Gully, was sentenced to two
years’ jail, suspended for two years, and had his licence cancelled for two years.
Brown’s car crashed head-on with another car on Philip Island on 14 January 1996.
The woman driving the other car was killed.
Judge Leo Hart said in his sentencing remarks yesterday that Brown either fell asleep
at the wheel or lost control. "The other driver was in no way responsible." he
said.
Brown, whom a jury found guilty of culpable driving, had an analysis of the amount of
marijuana in his blood used as evidence in his trial.
A police spokesman said yesterday that the analysis, using
equipment from South Australia, was the first time the amount of marijuana in a
person’s bloodstream had been accurately measured as opposed to merely detected, in
Victoria.
But the relationship between marijuana use and driver impairment, unlike that
of alcohol and driving impairment, was still unclear, he said.
Judge Hart said: "I do not find you were so affected by cannabis as to lose
control." He said Brown was negligent only because he was sleepy and that his
crime was "very low on the scale of culpable driving".
He said Brown had no prior convictions, came from a close, law-abiding family, was of
good character, was frank and cooperative with police and greatly shocked by the incident.
He said that although Brown pleaded not guilty, this was understandable given his
unclear memory of the accident, in which he was injured.
The State Government announced in September that drivers suspected of taking drugs
would be forced to give blood for testing.
Copyright: 1998 David Syme & Co Ltd
Supported