Former magistrate slams unfair drug driving tests

Thousands of NSW residents are having their driving licences revoked for no good reason says David Heilpern, a Northern Rivers magistrate who retired early, largely because he could not in conscience continue imposing mandatory suspensions.

He says in this Radio National interview that roadside drug tests are criminalising people with historic traces of certain illicit drugs but whose driving is not impaired. He points out that when such road safety measures as compulsory seatbelts and random breath testing for alcohol were introduced, the road toll was significantly reduced. But he has seen no evidence that busting tens of thousands of drivers over several years for illicit drugs has reduced the road toll.

This is largely because tests for cannabis can reveal traces of historic use – a week or nine days earlier – which do not impair driving. This contrasts with alcohol testing which measures present blood alcohol levels and the level of impairment in an increasing scale with corresponding penalties.

The drug testing hits regional areas hardest because people there are more reliant on driving for daily functions such as getting to work, taking children to school or going into town for shopping. He said people in his court would regularly burst into tears, pleading with him not to suspend their licence. But NSW law mandates automatic suspension dating from the initial roadside test. Mr Heilpern was able to exonerate only a few people on particular legal grounds.

To make matters worse, police have district level quotas with certain areas such as Northern Rivers and the Hunter having higher quotas than other areas such as the North Shore of Sydney.

There is no reason for these harsh laws. They do not make the roads safer. There is no evidence supporting them. They can exist only because of an irrational prohibitionist prejudice in the NSW government and the police industry – which of course benefits massively from drug detection budgets. Thousands of people are being criminalised and having their lives impaired for no reason whatsoever. This stupidity must stop.