The Register-Herald, Beckley, West Virginia

Today's Front Page

February 16, 2013

Tomblin proposes expanded drug testing on roads

Associated Press

CHARLESTON — West Virginia Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin is proposing changing state law to make it clear that police officers can test drivers for drugs just as they test them for alcohol.

The legislation would explicitly permit officers to test for drugs. The current law outlines only that authorities have the right to test for alcohol. While law enforcement authorities welcome the proposal, they say that proving a driver is impaired by drugs remains difficult.

When people are arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence, they usually are taken to a station or a precinct for further testing. If they have been drinking and fail a chemical breath test, the case is usually pretty straightforward. But if they are on drugs and pass a breath test — which tests only for alcohol — it becomes difficult to prove that they are impaired.

“It’s not that the police can’t do anything,” said Bob Tipton, the state’s director of highway safety. “They just don’t have tools in their tool belt to deal with drugged driving.”

According to federal figures, one in 10 adults in West Virginia has a drug problem, and that state has the nation’s highest rate of drug overdoses.

About 1,000 drivers were arrested statewide on suspicion of drugged driving last year — accounting for about 10 percent of all DUI arrests, Tipton said.

If drivers refuse to take a test that checks the level of alcohol in their system, it’s the same as failing a test when introduced as evidence in court. Tomblin’s legislation, introduced Friday, applies the same standard to drug tests.

It’s more difficult to determine whether there are drugs in someone’s system than alcohol. Drug testing usually requires more intrusive procedures than breath tests, such as blood or urine tests.

“There’s no test that is not somewhat invasive,” said Joe Barki, the Brooke County prosecutor and a former state trooper. “For alcohol, you can do a breath test. Drugs don’t show up the same way in a breath test. You have to get either a blood or urine test, and you can’t force somebody to give you a blood sample; you’d have to get a search warrant in order to get that type of information, which takes time, which decreases the likelihood that something will show up.”

In concert with the new legislation, Tipton said the State Police will begin specially training certain officers to serve as experts in drug recognition. These officers would administer examinations, similar to what a nurse might do, to help establish that a driver is impaired. The officer would check things like pulse rate, blood pressure and pupil dilation. If the officer determines that the driver is impaired, they could proceed to further blood and urine testing.

“It’s not intrusive like, ‘Go into a room, put on a hospital gown,”’ Tipton said. “He’s doing more things to test your reflexes and reactions.”

Tipton said about 20 officers probably would be trained to do the examinations in the first year and a half after the program is introduced.

Sgt. Michael Baylous, a spokesman for the State Police, recalls from his time in the field that it was often difficult to prove impairment and said he welcomed any changes that would make drugged driving easier to prove.

“I remember one guy who had been huffing gasoline, and he was obviously impaired but when you have him blow into an Intoximeter it doesn’t show anything,” Baylous said.

Tomblin first announced the legislation at his State of the State address Wednesday, saying he wanted to make it clear that officers had more power so that when “drivers who are under the influence of drugs are pulled over, they can be properly identified, tested, and removed from our roadways.”

At Tomblin’s request, the legislation has been introduced in both the Senate and the House of Delegates and has been assigned to committees.

 

Text Only
Today's Front Page
  • Importance of cardiac unit at RGH, concern over temporary closure expressed

    Dorothy Wright-Reynolds will remember Nov. 13, 2009, for the rest of her life.

    May 18, 2013

  • Fayette County Office of Emergency Services takes planning seriously

    Improving the county’s communications during a disaster is a top priority of the Fayette County Office of Emergency Services, says the agency’s new director.

    May 18, 2013

  • New trail in works for Hatfield-McCoy system

    Another addition to the Hatfield-McCoy Trail system in southern West Virginia is in the works.

    May 18, 2013

  • Students suspected in vandalism at Wayne High

    Wayne County’s Board of Education will meet to consider disciplining students suspected of vandalizing a high school.
     

    May 18, 2013

  • powerball Drawing tonight

    With an estimated Powerball Jackpot of $600 million, the largest prize in the game’s history and the world’s second largest lottery prize, many local residents are dreaming of how they would spend their fortune if they were to strike it rich.

    May 18, 2013 1 Photo

  • Details still ‘sketchy’ concerning shutdown of cardiac stent procedures at RGH

     The four-day suspension of heart stent procedures at Raleigh General Hospital due to an “unexpected availability of physician coverage” and without further explanation has left more questions than answers, answers that, according to hospital spokesman and Director of Marketing Kevin McGraw, will not be available until at least Monday.

    May 18, 2013

  • ticket 2013 Click-it Or Ticket campaign starts today

    Beckley Police Lt. Paul Blume wants to let motorists know that if they get pulled over in the Beckley area today, they’re getting a ticket.

    May 18, 2013 1 Photo

  • grad An Eye Toward the Future

    May 18, 2013 1 Photo

  • RGH suspends heart stent procedures until Monday

     Officials at Raleigh General Hospital issued a statement late Thursday afternoon indicating that “due to the unexpected unavailability of physician coverage,” cardiac stent procedures won’t be available to area residents at the Beckley facility until Monday, May 20.
     No other details were provided by hospital officials.
     Interventional cardiac care procedures were launched at RGH in November 2009 to serve a growing need for angioplasty lab services in Southern West Virginia.
     

    May 16, 2013

  • Thompson to depart house speaker post

    Rick Thompson is abandoning his post as speaker of the House of Delegates to accept a cabinet-level job in the Tomblin administration as head of the Department of Veterans Assistance.
    Thompson’s departure is likely to trigger a scramble to succeed him as speaker, with a number of Democrats expected to jockey for the post.

    May 16, 2013