International meeting on drugs and driving

Cited from Linda Montanari and Alain Verstraete Drugnet Europe No. 53,

January–March 2006

A conference focusing on the evaluation of instruments for testing those driving under the influence of drugs was held in Baltimore, USA from 5–6 December. Attended by some 50 professionals from Europe and the USA, the meeting was organised by the Walsh Group (http://www.walshgroup.org/) with the support of the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) (http://www.nida.nih.gov/). It presented findings from the Rosita-2 project. Results highlighted related to: an analysis of the sensitivity and specificity of several roadside tests; an evaluation of different drug-testing instruments; and a comparison of oral fluid tests versus blood analysis.

Rosita-2, a study on roadside drug testing

Cited from Alain Verstraete Drugnet Europe No. 53,

January–March 2006

Rosita-2 (RoadSide Testing Assessment) is a joint EU–US project designed to evaluate on-site roadside drug-testing devices. ...the study aims to evaluate the performance of 10 different saliva-based testing devices. In comparison with the results of Rosita-1, carried out five years ago, the findings from Rosita-2 show an improvement in the reliability of the devices and a more acceptable level of specificity of the devices (i.e. few false positive results were recorded). On the downside, 30% or more of the devices tested failed to give any result. Sensitivity to cannabis was particularly poor. …The final results of the project will be submitted to the European Commission in March 2006.

New French study on drugs and driving

Cited from Cécile Martel Drugnet Europe No. 53,

January–March 2006

French study on drugs and driving

In November 2005, a French study on the issue of drugs and driving was published in the British Medical Journal. The purpose of the study was to evaluate the relative risk of being responsible for a fatal car crash while driving under the influence of cannabis. …The study concludes that the risk of being responsible for a fatal car accident increases threefold when driving under the influence of cannabis. However, it reveals that the proportion of fatal car crashes attributable to cannabis use is significantly lower (2.5%) than that associated with alcohol (28.6%).

Driving under the influence of psychoactive substances is a hot topic in many EU Member States. The European Union drugs action plan (2005–2008) also stresses the crucial importance of undertaking work related to driving under the influence of alcohol, drugs and medicines. In November 2003, the Council of the European Union adopted a Resolution on combating the impact of psychoactive substance use on road accidents. Meanwhile the EMCDDA is collaborating with the Pompidou Group of the Council of Europe and will update its legal report on this issue in the coming months. Finally, the EMCDDA will also publish a selected issue on drugs and driving in its annual report 2007.