How Many Weekend Drivers are on Drugs? Maybe More Than You Think...

Wait a second. Were these people prosecuted if found to have drugs, or alcohol, in their system? And how is it legal for the police to force you to pull over and go to a "testing site"...and then they claim that the test was "voluntary"? Sounds like an illegal arrest/detainment to me. What probable cause did they have to pull people over? What law require you to pull over for a "voluntary" test?

I agree with Ed. Cops pulling you over (flashing lights and all) to participate in a "drug test survey"? I'll bet the "incentive" was..."If you're clean, we'll let you go!"

What suprises me is this, after a serious surgical procedure, one which would keep me on pain medication for an unknown amount of time, i had asked my pain management doctor how long i would be on the medications because i really wanted to drive again. His reply was shocking to me..."Why can't you drive on these medications? I have professionals every day carrying out their daily duties driving"! I was floored at that response as the medications i am refering to is morphine. So...While so many people are reacting shocked to this article, please know that this is what i was told and i am sure many others are told the same thing.

Let's drug test every representative in congress, every officer of the law, every fireman, etc. and do this every day that they show up for work.

What's good for the goose is good for the gander...

I am one of those people who would respond to yes I am on legal perscribed therapies for epilepsy which may make you drowsy, fortunately it does not for me. But that is better than having a seizure while driving.

The question is are the 3.9 percent using perscription drugs with or without Drs orders?

The only ones that would have to worry about a random stop for drug testing would be the ones hiding something. Most people that still respect Law Enforcement do not mind because of the growing problem of drivers under the influence of anything.
The complaints that my rights are violated is nothing but a joke. Tell those complaints to the thousands of innocent victims that have lost loved ones over drug and alcohol impaired drivers.
There are a lot of real stupid people that still see driving under the influence "Okay" and that is wrong and not acceptable. So what ever is needed by Law Enforecment to study, research, etc.. to get idiots off the road, then more power to them.
Now more than likley these citizens that were stopped were probably the rule of thumb, cross or bump the dividing line (yellow) in the road (3) times it then becomes reasonable cause.

Driving while impaired.... Geesh.. It took years of social pressure to get drunk driving down to the levels that it is and now people want to decriminalize pot. When we have an equivalent test for pot to the breathalizer, than you can legalize it. It's ridiculous.

I dont drink or do drugs and hate these stupid roadblocks, I've even been detained for 20min while my car was searched, bs

They do this road block vehicle search crap in Mexico and other third world toilettes all the time. Sad to see the U.S. falling behind as well.

So how's that war on drugs going? After all the billions of dollars we were forced to spend on enforcement and incarcerations we still have 12.5% of the DRIVING population on illegal drug and another 6.1% possibly abusing legal drugs. 12.5% of 203 million licenced drivers in the US in 2007 means 25,375,000 drivers in the US use illegal drugs! There seems to be an underlying true here that we are not addressing.

I did a little looking into the cost of the war on drugs: Federal and state spending THIS YEAR ALONE on the war on drugs is $27,299,165,488.00.

I have never done any kind of drugs in my life, perhaps unusually for someone who was young in the 1960s, but my strong sense is that quite a few responsible citizens started doing "recreational drugs" in the 1970s, some of whom gave it up after a few years and some of whom never did. The finding does not surprise me.

it is crazy that people are forced to pull over and do this but our drug problem is growing by the day.
Substance abuse treatment

Guys
These figures of 16% is probably not accurate. The reason I am saying this is because out of the many who AGREED to be tested- obviously this means guys who did not do drugs on the day of the test. The were probably not aware that drugs take a lot of time to get out of your system.

Recently a neighbor who works in the Justice Department mentioned about drug use rampant in DC and surrounding areas. I was surprised to hear that Govt employees, postal carriers and school bus drivers have been busted in the past due to drug use.

I can't imagine how they can be sure this survey is at all accurate.

ow do you pull people over at random, and how to ensure that the people who voluntarily participate are a good cross-section that represents the rest of people on the road? Why would a person on drugs participate anyway?

This is dumb.

Uhh, guys, these guys aren't stupid. They keep tally of participation rate, and if it's not high enough, the survey isn't considered valid.

I find the results of this survey very suspect.

I find it very hard to believe that more people had cocaine in their system, then alcohol. Alcohol is used by a vastly higher portion of the population, then cocaine is. How on earth would they be coming up with 2.2% with alcohol in their system, and 3.9% with cocaine?

I'd love to see the methodology they used to determine which cars to pull to the side of the road to have the drivers tested.

Elderly couple, Skip.

Soccer Mom with SUV full of kids, Skip

Man in his early 20s wearing a tie die T shirt, driving a VW van, with some dancing bears on it, pull them over.