Crackdown on motorist drug use

23 February 2005

AMSTERDAM — Promising to implement a more efficient drug test for motorists by 2006, Dutch Transport Minister Karla Peijs has urged police to crackdown now against motorists who use illicit substances.

A saliva test is expected to be introduced next year to make it easier to determine drug use, but Peijs is not prepared to wait. She is demanding that police conduct urine tests more often.

Currently, the urine test is not used very often because it is too time consuming, public news service NOS reported on Tuesday night.

Peijs was reacting to new figures from the Traffic Safety Academic Research Foundation (SWOV) which revealed that drug use among youths in 2005 had more than doubled compared with the figure recorded in 1987.

The SWOV said 17.6 percent of youths drive while under the influence of drugs, compared with 7 percent recorded at the end of the 1980s.

The problem of drug use among young motorists has been of concern for the European Union for some time. EU officials are working towards a Union-wide drugs test for motorists.

Domestically, Peijs promised MPs that she will work with Justice Minister Piet Hein Donner to develop a solution.

Subject: Dutch news