PROPOSALS to introduce legally defined drug-concentration limits for drivers and enable the police to conduct roadside drugs testing have been withdrawn by the Infrastructure Minister.
Announcing the decision at the start of this week’s States sitting, Constable Andy Jehan said there were “issues which we need to engage on further to support the understanding of what is being proposed”.
The announcement has been welcomed by End Cannabis Prohibition Jersey, which had argued that the draft legislation was being “rushed through”.
If approved, it would have introduced a new offence of driving or being in charge of a motor vehicle with a concentration of a specified drug above a prescribed limit.
While the law currently enables the prosecution of drivers impaired by drugs or alcohol, there is no statutory definition of a legal limit for drug use – something Mr Jehan has said “creates ambiguity in enforcement” and “has made successful prosecutions challenging”.
His proposals would initially have created a limit of 5 µg/L (micrograms per litre of blood) for Delta-9-Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), with the potential for further specified drugs to be added by ministerial order.
ECPJ co-ordinator Simon Harrison told the JEP last month that the group wanted the proposition to be called in by scrutiny, contending it lacked information around “the justification of the limits or the reasons for only looking at cannabis, or the timeline for when other drugs will be added”.
One of his main criticisms regarded the amendment regulations’ “omission” of a medical defence, encompassing situations in which drivers can prove that the drug was legally prescribed and taken as instructed – though the defence does not apply if the medication caused them to be impaired while driving.
Mr Harrison created a petition calling for the legal mechanism, which is available within other jurisdictions including the UK and Guernsey, to be included within the proposed legislation.
Mr Jehan told States Members yesterday morning that he was withdrawing the proposition.
He added: “Apologies for the delay, but there are some issues which we need to engage on further to support the understanding of what is being proposed.”
Reacting to the announcement, Mr Harrison said: “It’s a phenomenal relief.
“There were massive concerns that the patient community in particular had around the lack of a statutory medical defence in the draft law.”
Noting the petition and ECPJ’s multiple submissions to scrutiny, he added: “It looked like we hadn’t got anywhere, and then to see this morning the Infrastructure Minister has withdrawn the proposition, we can all breathe a sigh of relief.
“Obviously, this isn’t the end. The proposition will return in the next term and we fully anticipate that, but we hope that our concerns will have been taken on board by the minister and his team to include a statutory medical defence going forward.”
