In The Times today:
"People who drive after taking illegal drugs could be banned for a year and fined up to £5000 - even if there is no evidence that their driving was impaired." Yes someone has developed a roadside drug test, just need a sample of saliva.
Now, without the last clause, that would seem OK, bastard out of his head, driving like a maniac, yes of course, grab him and ban him and fine him. BUT his driving was fine, perfectly safe, sensible, not speeding (ha!), stops for little old ladies etc.
There is talk of allowing the police to perform random checks. That means stopping a car for no reason, breathalysing the driver (and presumably now doing the above roadside drug test as well).
I am wondering: does that mean that if you had a toke of cannabis a couple of weeks ago, you will then be up for the ban and fine? How fair is this? What about if you use it for pain relief?
To be honest, I know a few people who smoke the stuff and they are a lot safer on the road than people who drink.
Are we really in favour of random checks? Where will it stop? The next logical step is to stop people in the street, isn't it? How far is this going to go?
And if there is a limit to how much alcohol you are allowed to have in your body before you are considered unsafe to drive, should there be a measure of how much of any particular drug there is in your body before you are considered unsafe?
I just feel that our society is moving closer and closer to a police state. Big Gov is watching everything and wants to control everthing and very soon we will be being stalked by the thought police! Already neighbours are grassing up neighbours, next it'll be kids grassing up parents.
Maybe I'm just musing; but I really don't like the way this is going.