Highway patrol officers in Alberta now have a new tool in their repertoire: a way to check if someone is on drugs at a traffic stop.
Officers will now be able to use a device called the Draeger DrugTest 5000, which can detect cannabis and cocaine use.
This comes after the province gave Sheriff Highway Patrol the ability to bust motorists for impaired driving from alcohol last year.
According to a statement from the Ministry of Justice and Solicitor General, Sheriff Highway Patrol officers have taken nearly 1,400 impaired drivers off of provincial highways under their jurisdiction.
“I don’t know a lot of agencies in Canada that are using these, that have rolled them out in the numbers we have. But we have acquired several dozens of these, and they have been rolled out across the province,” Inspector Jason Delaney with Sheriff Highway Patrol said of the Draeger devices.
Sheriff Highway Patrol says officers have already put the tool to use, noting a recent stop which found a driver to have cocaine in their system. It is believed this is likely the first time police have tested a driver for drug use on a highway in Alberta.
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“They are an extremely effective tool. That one was a positive test for cocaine, but we just had another positive test now for THC down in the Lethbridge area over the last few days. I’ve also heard of another one up north,” Delaney said. “Clearly, they’re working, they’re obviously very effective at getting drug impaired drivers off the highways.”
The Ministry of Justice and Solicitor General says it’s working on getting the Draeger DrugTest 5000 into Alberta’s vehicle inspection stations to help enforce zero-tolerance impairment standards for commercial drivers.
