Motorists are subjected to Section 5A of the Road Traffic Act. This is an offence where the individual has driven or been in charge of a motor vehicle with a concentration of specified controlled drug above specified its limit.
Bericon can prepare court-ready reports in relation to:
– Post-Driving Drug Consumption- providing a possible defence that the individual was under the limit when they drove.
– The likelihood that a person’s drug level would have decreased below the legal limit when they drove
Case Study – Key Information:
– The Defendant was charged with Driving a Motor Vehicle with proportions of specified controlled drugs, namely cocaine and benzoylecgonine, above their specified limits
– The defendant was the driver of a motor vehicle caused to stop by police officers.
– The defendant provided a roadside mouth swab sample which indicated the presence of a cocaine.
– The police arrested the defendant and took a sample of their blood for analysis
– It was reported that the sample contained a cocaine metabolite, benzoylecgonine (BZE) at a concentration of not less 476 microgramme per litre (µg/l), which is above the statutory limit of 50µg/l. Cocaine was detected at a concentration of greater than 32µg/l, which is above the statutory limit of 10µg/l.
– The defendant stated they were not a regular drug user and had not used any drug in the 24 hours which preceded the incident.
– After having stopped driving and before being spoken to by the police officers, the defendant swallowed 1-1.5 grammes of cocaine and they assert that this consumption is the reason for their failed test.
Expert Instruction:
Bericon was instructed by the defendant’s solicitors to prepare a report that assessed the significance of cocaine and BZE being found in the defendant’s blood at a concentration above their statutory limits and whether their presence was partly or wholly because of their use of cocaine after they had driven (post-driving drug Consumption).
Expert Findings:
In the expert’s opinion, it was possible, given the defendant’s account that their usage could account for their recorded cocaine and BZE readings. Consequently, there is some support for their account of the incident and therefore the possibility that when they drove, their readings for these compounds could have been below their respective legal limits.
Bericon’s expert also commented that other patterns of use may also give rise to the reported data e.g. if they are a regular cocaine user.
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