The Government’s announcement it will start roadside drug driver testing should not penalise drivers who are appropriately taking their prescription medication – but might delay them – an AUT academic says.

Dr Catherine Crofts, a New Zealand registered pharmacist, believes it would be helpful for the Government to advise how to best help people who test positive to prescription medication when they are stopped at a checkpoint.

“How do we help law-abiding citizens to get to their destination with no more delay than what would happen at an alcohol screening checkpoint?” she asks.

“Do they need to carry a letter from their doctor? A photo of their prescription?”

She says people who are taking their prescription medication in accordance with their prescriber’s and pharmacist’s guidelines should not be prosecuted under the new legislation.

“If you test positive for your prescribed medications and are following your healthcare team’s advice, then you have a medical defence if stopped at a checkpoint” she says.

“Theoretically, it is possible for someone to test positive to amphetamine if they are taking dexamphetamine (an ADHD medication) depending on the sensitivity of the test. What happens to these people at the roadside?”

Under the existing Land Transport Act 1998, drivers are not permitted to drive in a dangerous, reckless, careless, or inconsiderate manner. This includes driving under the influence of alcohol or other drugs, including prescription medications to the extent that the driver is “incapable of having proper control of the vehicle”.

“The police have always had the authority to test for the presence of alcohol, drugs or prescription medication in cases of impaired driving,” says Dr Crofts, a senior lecturer in Biosciences at AUT.

“But unlike alcohol, we have not yet had the technology to allow roadside drug screening. Now it looks like we do.”

Any prescription medication or Controlled Drug can be a “qualifying drug” that may impair driving, but the Land Transport (Drug Driving) Amendment Act 2022 specifies blood levels for a limited range of drugs and prescription medications that are well recognised to impair driving and are likely targets for the roadside drug screening.

Although some of the “qualifying drugs” are illegal substances (e.g. methamphetamine or cocaine), most of the “qualifying” prescription medications either cause sleep or are strong painkillers, Dr Crofts says. These can include sleeping pills like zopiclone or temazepam, strong pain killers like morphine or codeine, or anti-anxiety medication like lorazepam.

“People probably shouldn’t be driving if they are in severe pain, because pain slows us down. These analgesics [like morphine] further slow your reflexes.”

This also applies to many sleeping aids or anti-anxiety medications.

“Sleeping pills taken late in the evening may impair early morning driving, especially in the elderly or frail.”

Although it doesn’t look like roadside screening will be starting soon, Dr Crofts thinks the announcement is a good thing.

“Hopefully, this will encourage people to talk with their prescribers and pharmacists about whether they are using their medications appropriately, especially if they take sleeping aids but need to be alert in the early morning.”

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