Driving while under the influence of illegal drugs is as dangerous and unacceptable as drink driving, Deputy Minister for Enterprise, Transport and Lifelong Learning Lewis Macdonald said today.
Mr Macdonald commented as he attended a joint launch by the Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland (ACPOS) and the Scottish Road Safety Campaign (SRSC) of a new drug driving television campaign targeting young drivers.
The campaign aims to raise awareness of the potential drug driving dangers, and highlight the enforcement activity being undertaken by the police across Scotland.
ACPOS, the SRSC and the Executive have joined forces to tackle drug driving following Executive research findings that one in ten people under 40 has driven after using illegal drugs. The research also found significant ignorance amongst drivers of the police's enforcement powers and the penalties associated with drug driving. This research is informing the SRSC's drug driving campaign.
Mr Macdonald heard reports from ACPOS on the recent drug driving enforcement activity as part of the wider 'Crimebraker' Drugs and Transport initiative. All police forces in Scotland have been trained in drug recognition techniques and field impairment testing involving voluntary physical co-ordination tests.
Mr Macdonald said:
"Our concerns about the number of people who use drugs and drive are well founded as too many people are willing to dice with death behind the wheel of their car.
"This Executive-funded advert will significantly raise awareness of the risks associated with drug driving. The message will hit home that, besides the very real risks of causing injury to themselves and others, those who drive under the influence of drugs are very likely to be caught as the police are well equipped to deal with drug drivers. With severe penalties, my hope is that people will think twice about taking drugs at all."
Commenting on the campaign Dr Richard Simpson Deputy Minister for Justice said:
"I welcome this important initiative from the Scottish Road Safety Campaign. It is important to provide people with a breadth of quality information about drugs and a campaign on the risks of drug driving is an important part of this holistic message, which also includes prevention and harm reduction.
"The Know the Score campaign is about providing clear and concise messages and, in association with the SRSC campaign, both the Know the Score website and information line will help to provide people with specific information on drug driving."
The main findings of research on recreational drug use and driving published by the Scottish Executive were: drug driving is prevalent among 20 to 24 year old age group; nearly 10 per cent of drivers aged 17 to 39 have driven under the influence of illegal drugs; cannabis is the most common drug to have been used by drug drivers.
Following publication of this research the Executive announced additional funding of £180,000 for the SRSC for the production of a drugs driving television advert.
The television advert will be screened over the next four weeks and again in October, as well as in cinemas later this year.
The aim of voluntary physical co-ordination tests is to use them as a device to assess whether an individual's consciousness is impaired by the influence of drugs.
The initiative is part of a wider Crimebraker campaign, in which police forces and other agencies are uniting to take concerted action against drug trafficking and drug misuse in Scotland.
The Executive provides funds to the Scottish Road Safety Campaign for the production of road safety education resources and publicity initiatives.