Police take 1700 drink or drug-affected drivers off the streets

Police test drivers for drugs. Picture: Tim Carrafa Source: Sunday Herald Sun

POLICE have taken 1700 drink or drug-affected drivers off the streets of Victoria in the first phase of its summer road enforcement campaign.

Operation RAID – Remove All Impaired Drivers – detected more than 36,500 traffic offences during the past three weeks, 3000 more than in the same period last year.

Assistant Commissioner for Road Policing Robert Hill said he was astounded.

“It just astounds me that despite the research, despite the education, despite the heartache, people are still willing to risk their lives on the road,” Mr Hill said.

“I look at incidents like the terrible collision that claimed five lives in Lara over the weekend and wonder what more we as police could have done?”

“But it’s not just up to the police. Everyone needs to play their part and show some responsibility – drivers, passengers and pedestrians alike,” he added.

One driver, a 58 year old Yarrawonga man, was seen talking on a mobile phone and holding a can of beer while unsuccessfully trying to steer his Holden ute along the Murray Valley Highway in Cobram East around 2.35 last Thursday.

“The incident occurred at the same location where two days prior, a 20-year-old Mulwala woman was killed after her vehicle collided with a tree,” Victoria Police spokeswoman Cath Allen said.

One disqualified motorist was caught with drugs in his system in the same location in Bittern and same operation as he had the year before.

And five drug drivers were detected in the Mornington Peninsula area all on Saturday night.

“Over the last three weeks during this operation, we’ve breath tested 671,863 motorists and drug tested a further 1580 motorists,” Mr Hill said.

"We’ve had more police on the road than ever, working around the clock to deter and take these risk-takers off our roads.

“My challenge to all road users, two weeks out from Christmas, is stay safe or stay off the road this summer,” he added.

The operation detected:

• 1580 drink driving offences

• 196 drug driving offences

• 1092 disqualified/suspended drivers

• 1542 unlicensed drivers 

• 3191 unregistered vehicles 

• 10,819 speeding offences 

• 3152 mobile phone offences 

• 2576 disobey signs/signals 

• 262 impoundments 

• 1528 seat belt offences. 

The 52-day campaign will run across Victoria until January 9. 

Posted By Drug Test Australia

Original http://www.news.com.au/national/police-take-1700-drink-or-drug-affected-drivers-off-the-streets-of-victoria/story-fndo4cq1-1226533910237

• Jon Kaila
• Herald Sun
• December 11, 201212:00AM

Drug testing pits privacy against safety

Posted by Drug Test Australia

Drug testing pits privacy against safety; 

Judges to hear Suncor arguments

Original By Amanda Stephenson, Calgary Herald November 24, 2012 http://www.calgaryherald.com/health/Drug+testing+pits+privacy+against+safety/7605165/story.html#ixzz2DOosEK6t

A lab technician tests samples for drugs.

A three-judge Alberta Court of Appeal panel will next week hear from Suncor Energy Inc. as the oilsands giant argues against an injunction blocking its proposed random employee drug testing program.

Next month, the Supreme Court of Canada will hear the case of Irving Pulp and Paper, a New Brunswick company whose plan to have its employees submit to mandatory breathalyzer tests has been fought tooth and nail by the same union that represents Suncor workers.

Both cases will be watched closely by employers, safety companies and privacy experts, as the courts try to find a balance between safety on the job and an individual's right to privacy.

Unlike the United States, where workplace drug tests are relatively common, Canada has had little experience with randomly administered on-the-job tests. But that could be about to change.

"Employers have to take action. They're responsible for maintaining a safe work environment," says Pat Atkins, administrator of Alberta's Drug and Alcohol Risk Reduction Pilot Project (DARRPP). "There are problems in the oilsands related to alcohol and drugs ... and we think it would be irresponsible for organizations not to take action, given the concerns they're seeing."
Those concerns range from drug paraphernalia found on work sites to workplace accidents caused by drunk or stoned employees.

Suncor has stated three of the seven deaths that have occurred at its Fort McMurray oilsands operation since 2000 involved workers under the influence of alcohol or drugs.
"Every day that passes, the risk increases," Suncor lawyer Tom Wakeling told the Alberta Court of Appeal last month. "The Suncor workplace is inherently a dangerous space.

The consequences of mistakes in this hazardous environment may include catastrophes."
Most oilsands companies already have some form of drug-testing policy in place - in most cases, testing occurs after an accident takes place, or if an employee exhibits behaviour that provides "just cause." In some cases, employees must pass a drug test before being hired for a certain position or before being contracted to work on a certain job site.

DARRPP is different. The two-year pilot project, led by a working group of oilsands industry employers and labour providers, aims to introduce completely random drug testing in "safety sensitive" positions at participating workplaces.

Organizers of the project point to U.S. data that indicates random testing is more likely to catch workplace drug and alcohol problems than incident-driven testing.

One of the first companies to get on board with DARRPP was Suncor, which announced in June its plan to implement mandatory random drug tests for safety sensitive employees at its oilsands facilities. However, before Suncor could implement its proposal, a grievance was filed by the Communications, Energy, and Paperworkers Union. The union, which represents 3,400 workers at the Suncor site, argued random drug testing violates its members' right to privacy.
"This is about the right to preserve their bodily integrity, quite frankly. Their privacy, their dignity," union lawyer Ritu Khullar told the appeals court last month.

Days earlier, a Court of Queen's Bench Judge issued an injunction, ruling Suncor cannot move ahead with its program until the union's grievance can be reviewed by a labour arbitration board. Suncor appealed, and that appeal is set to be heard on Wednesday.

The same union is also fighting Irving Pulp and Paper, the New Brunswick company that introduced a workplace safety policy in 2006 that included random alcohol testing for employees. That case will be heard by the Supreme Court of Canada in December.
Atkins said DARRPP is confident it is well within its legal rights.
"We believe we have designed the project in such a way to respect privacy and human rights," Atkins said.

Ed Secondiak, president of ECS Services - which has designed drug testing programs for large and small corporations for 18 years - says there are ways to ensure employees' rights are respected while still reducing the risk of on-the-job substance abuse.

Secondiak said when he designs a program, all drug test results are reviewed by a medical review officer. If a test comes back positive, the medical review officer will speak privately to the employee in question, and if he or she can provide a medical reason for why they might have a drug in their system, they are given an all-clear without their employer ever being informed of the original test results.

Test results are kept under lock and key with limited access, and are never shared with outside agencies without the employee's permission.

Secondiak says in most cases, when a person fails a test, he or she is sent for a substance abuse assessment. An addictions counsellor will decide whether the individual can come back to work, or needs more treatment. He said in many cases, being flagged by a workplace test is exactly the push some addicts need to get treatment and turn their lives around.
"I would say there's a high success rate when you're dealing with alcohol and marijuana in terms of being able to bring people back (to the job)," he says.

Dr. Charl Els, an addictions psychiatrist with the University of Alberta, agrees substance abuse in the workplace is a serious issue. Using U.S. statistics as a base - because there are no reliable Canadian statistics - he estimates that 8.3 per cent of full-time workers use illicit drugs.
"We likely are only seeing the tip of the iceberg in terms of the visible cases of substance use and abuse," Els says. "It's well accepted that we underestimate the prevalence and the actual impact."

Els also believes the nature of the oilsands industry means workers there are more likely to use drugs.

"It's typically a young, male population, there's a lot of excess time when they don't work, there's a lot of disposable income and cash in the pocket. They're typically not with their families, they're isolated. So there's a number of factors that make people more prone to use," he says.

However, Els says random drug testing is the wrong approach. He says a typical urine test only detects the presence of a substance in a person's system - it can't detect whether the person is impaired. That means it cannot differentiate between a person who smoked marijuana 20 minutes earlier and is stoned on the job versus a person who smoked a joint at a weekend party three days ago.

"The vast majority of people who use cannabis instead of having a beer on Friday evening may well test positive on Monday morning, and without it remotely having any impact on workplace impairment or occupational risk," Els says. "What they will detect is a whole lot of normal, recreational users with no risk to the workplace. And that I view as an invasion of privacy."

Els adds there are a lot of workers and professionals other than oil sands employees who can be considered to be doing "safety specific" work, and they aren't being subjected to random drug tests.

"You can imagine the uproar if I suggested tomorrow we need to start testing all physicians for cannabis," he said. "By this logic, any individual operating a vehicle for work should not be able to do so unless they can test negative."

Els says he has no problem with post-accident or just cause workplace drug testing, it's the random testing he opposes. He says there simply isn't enough solid evidence that random drug testing reduces the rates of workplace accidents, adding he too will be watching the Suncor case and the Irving Pulp and Paper case with interest.

"I would be surprised if random testing will actually be cleared as acceptable and not in violation," he says.

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Legalizing marijuana created a rippling effect

Posted by Drug Test Australia
Original at http://www.gazette.com/articles/marijuana-147208-rippling-created.html


Medical marijuana is packaged for sale in 1-gram packages at the Northwest Patient Resource Center medical marijuana dispensary, Wednesday, Nov. 7, 2012, in Seattle. After voters weighed in on election day, Colorado and Washington became the first states to allow possession of up to 1 oz. of legal pot for recreational use, but they are likely to face resistance from federal regulations.

The famous — or infamous, depending on your point of view — ballot measure legalizing marijuana in Tuesday’s election is already sending ripples through Colorado’s medical marijuana community.

Some medical marijuana dispensaries are worried, some aren't. Some dispensaries supported the ballot measure, some didn't.

But one thing is for sure — they've all gotten a lot more attention since the ballot measure has made national news.

“One centre owner I know said somebody from Chicago called up and asked if they could send them a pound in the mail,” said Jeff Sveinsson, the owner of Cannabicare, a medical marijuana dispensary near Peterson Air Force Base.

Tanya Garduno, president of the Colorado Springs Medical Cannabis Council, said her phone “has been ringing off the hook” with calls from centers all over Colorado.

Center owners, she said, are being hassled by people from not just Colorado Springs but by people from Durango, Pueblo, Denver and in other towns who want to buy pot.

“It’s pretty hilarious when I get those problems,” Garduno said. “Every centre has been swamped with calls, ‘Can I buy now?’ ‘No, you can’t.’ ”

Amendment 64, which Colorado voters approved Tuesday by a 55 percent margin, will allow individuals older than 21 to possess as much as an ounce of marijuana and grow as many as six marijuana plants. It will also allow retail marijuana stores to open in January 2014, after the Legislature enacts industry regulations.

Many people around the country haven’t read the fine print, though. Personal possession will only become legal after the governor proclaims the amendment part of the state Constitution, which may not happen until the governor’s deadline, Jan. 5.

That isn't just an annoyance, Sveinsson said. It points to a serious flaw in the amendment — the measure doesn’t specify whether only Colorado residents can buy recreational marijuana.

“We’ve had people calling our store all week long who are from out of state, who are going on road trips and want to buy marijuana from us,” Sveinsson said.

“We’re going to be (angering) Nebraska, Kansas, Illinois, you name it.”

Sveinsson is only one of dozens of medical marijuana stakeholders around Colorado Springs, though, and plenty of others have no problem with the amendment.

Gina Akeo, the manager of the medical marijuana center Natural Leaf, said she voted for it because of the criminal repercussions.

“If you’re going to legalize alcohol, which kills thousands of people a year, and not legalize something that’s never harmed anyone, that’s counter-productive,” Akeo said. “The feds shouldn't be wasting time on people that are committing minor crimes like having less than an ounce of pot.”

Akeo said that plenty of her patients also voted for Amendment 64 for the same reason.

But they, and Akeo, still have reservations.

“It’s also a medical thing, and to make it recreational kind of defeats the purpose. It’s kind of a Catch-22,” Akeo said. “A lot of patients don’t want people with minor amounts incarcerated, but they also don’t want their medical to be interfered with.”

For those reasons and more, Garduno said, the Medical Cannabis Council planned a meeting to discuss the issue. The council has more than 60 members, she said, including dispensary owners, employees, patients and doctors.

“Most of the folks are kind of split down the centre. Half of them say they’re in favour of going legal, and half want to stay patient-based,” Garduno said.

And some are furious, like Sveinsson.

“We’re going to become the Amsterdam of the United States,” he said. “I can guarantee that (buyers) will be offloading it onto the streets and sending it out of state.”

Some dispensaries will probably be interested in selling both recreational marijuana and medical, Garduno said, because they’ve already set up shop and could make more profits if they add to their clientele.

That depends largely on what kind of rules the Legislature puts out, Akeo said. Her shop hasn’t even considered yet whether or not it may sell recreational marijuana, because they wouldn’t have to apply for a license until 2014.

“We knew we’d better hurry up and wait, just like we did with medical. It’s like, what’s going to happen now?” Garduno said.

Medical marijuana, Garduno and Akeo pointed out, was approved by Colorado voters in 2000, but regulations are still being handed down by the state. Centres have had to relocate, update security systems, and more. Regulations for recreational stores could take longer and be even more stringent.

Other stakeholders in the industry are also talking about what may happen if the federal government decides to prosecute stores that begin selling recreational marijuana. Marijuana may be legal in Colorado, but remains banned under federal law.

The federal government has shut down medical marijuana dispensaries in other states, like California, and some warn that the same thing could happen here if Amendment 64 leads to federal intervention.

WHEN LEGAL?

Personal possession of marijuana will only become legal after Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper proclaims the amendment part of the state Constitution, which might not happen until the governor's deadline, Jan. 5, 2013.

A medical marijuana plant is shown at the Northwest Patient Resource Center medical marijuana dispensary, Wednesday, Nov. 7, 2012, in Seattle. After voters weighed in on election day, Colorado and Washington became the first states to allow legal pot for recreational use, but they are likely to face resistance from federal regulations. 
Read more: http://www.gazette.com/articles/marijuana-147208-rippling-created.html#ixzz2C403sLJV

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Methamphetamine Vaccine Shows Promising Results in Early Tests

Posted by; Drug Test Australia

Article from HealthCanal.com 01/11/2012 20:51:00

Original Article can be found at http://www.healthcanal.com/medical-breakthroughs/33522-Meth-Vaccine-Shows-Promising-Results-Early-Tests.html

 

Blocking a meth high could help addicts committed to recovery

LA JOLLA, CA  – Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) have performed successful tests of an experimental methamphetamine vaccine on rats. Vaccinated animals that received the drug were largely protected from typical signs of meth intoxication. If the vaccine proves effective in humans too, it could become the first specific treatment for meth addiction, which is estimated to affect 25 million people worldwide.

“This is an early-stage study, but its results are comparable to those for other drug vaccines that have then gone to clinical trials,” said Michael A. Taffe, an associate professor in TSRI’s addiction science group, known as the Committee on the Neurobiology of Addictive Disorders. Taffe is the senior author of the study, which is currently in press with the journal Biological Psychiatry.

A Common and Dangerous Drug of Abuse

Over the past two decades, methamphetamine has become one of the most common drugs of abuse around the world. In the United States alone there are said to be more than 400,000 current users, and in some states, including California, meth accounts for more primary drug abuse treatment admissions than any other drug. Meth has characteristics that make it more addictive than other common drugs of abuse, and partly for this reason, there are no approved treatments for meth addiction.

In recent years, scientists at TSRI and other institutions have taken the innovative approach of developing vaccines against addictive drugs. These vaccines evoke antibody responses against drug molecules, just as traditional vaccines evoke antibody responses against viruses or bacteria. Anti-drug antibodies are meant to grab hold of drug molecules and keep them from getting into the brain—preventing the drug from giving the user a high and removing the incentive for taking the drug.

Vaccines against nicotine and cocaine are already in clinical trials. Some meth vaccines have been tested in animals, but generally with unpromising results. The methamphetamine molecule is structurally simple, making it relatively unnoticeable to the immune system. Meth and its main metabolite, ordinary amphetamine, also tend to linger once they get into the nervous system, so that even a little drug goes a long way. “The simple structure and long half-life of this drug make it a particularly difficult vaccine target,” said Kim Janda, the Ely R. Callaway, Jr. Professor of Chemistry and member of the Skaggs Institute for Chemical Biology at TSRI.

‘Encouraging Results’

Two years ago Janda and his laboratory developed six candidate meth vaccines. In each, the main active ingredient was a chemical cognate of the methamphetamine molecule—that otherwise would be too small to evoke any antibody response—linked to a larger, antibody-provoking carrier molecule. Early tests in mice indicated that three of these vaccine candidates could evoke a strong antibody response to meth. Taffe’s laboratory later tested these three vaccines in rats and found the one, designated MH6, that worked best at blocking two typical effects of meth—an increase in physical activity and a loss of the usual ability to regulate body temperature.

In the new study, members of Taffe’s laboratory, including Research Associate Michelle L. Miller, who was lead author of the study, investigated the MH6 vaccine in more depth. Using a different experimental setup, they found again that it prevented a rise in body temperature and burst of wheel-running hyperactivity that otherwise occur after meth exposure. Underlying these promising effects on behavioral measures was a robust antibody response, which in vaccinated rats kept more of the drug in the bloodstream and out of the nervous system, compared to control rats. “These are encouraging results that we’d like to follow up with further animal tests, and, we hope, with clinical tests in humans some day,” said Miller.

“I think that this vaccine has all the right features to allow it to move forward in development,” said Janda. “It certainly works better than the other active vaccines for meth that have been reported so far.”

The Next Big Challenge

A separate group of researchers has reported promising animal test results for an antibody-based treatment. In this approach, the anti-meth antibodies are grown in cultured cells using standard biotechnology methods and then injected into the animal in a concentrated dose, preventing a meth high. Antibody-based therapies are commonly used to treat cancer and chronic immunologicalconditions. But they are typically expensive, costing thousands of dollars per dose, and the effects of a dose last for a few weeks at most. A meth treatment probably would have to be much more cost-effective to be widely useful, as addicts frequently have little money and no health insurance and receive their treatments from government health services.

In principle, an active vaccine would be cheap to make and administer and would confer protection for months per dose, rather than weeks with conventional monoclonal antibody therapy. In practice, active meth vaccine candidates don’t yet last that long; for example, the MH6 candidate in the current study was given in four doses over 12 weeks. But Janda and Taffe believe that with further adjustment, an active meth vaccine could sustain an anti-meth antibody response for a much longer period.

“Extending the duration of protection is the next big scientific challenge in this field,” said Taffe.

In addition to Taffe, Janda and Miller, other co-authors of the report, “A Methamphetamine Vaccine Attenuates Methamphetamine-Induced Disruptions in Thermoregulation and Activity in Rats,” were Amira Y. Moreno, from TSRI’s Department of Chemistry; and Shawn M. Aarde, Kevin M. Creehan, Sophia A. Vandewater, Brittani D. Vaillancourt and M. Jerry Wright Jr., from TSRI’s Committee on the Neurobiology of Addictive Disorders. For more information on the paper, seehttp://www.biologicalpsychiatryjournal.com/article/S0006-3223(12)00803-7/abstract.

The study was funded in part by a National Institute on Drug Abuse grant (#DA024705).

About The Scripps Research Institute

The Scripps Research Institute is one of the world's largest independent, not-for-profit organizations focusing on research in the biomedical sciences. Over the past decades, Scripps Research has developed a lengthy track record of major contributions to science and health, including laying the foundation for new treatments for cancer, rheumatoid arthritis, hemophilia, and other diseases. The institute employs about 3,000 people on its campuses in La Jolla, CA, and Jupiter, FL, where its renowned scientists—including three Nobel laureates—work toward their next discoveries. The institute's graduate program, which awards Ph.D. degrees in biology and chemistry, ranks among the top ten of its kind in the nation. For more information, see www.scripps.edu.

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http://www.healthcanal.com/medical-breakthroughs/33522-Meth-Vaccine-Shows-Promising-Results-Early-Tests.html

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More airline staff fail drug, alcohol tests

Posted by Drug Test Australia

 By Chris Zappone October 30, 2012 - 10:26AM -  Sydney Morning Herald

Less than three months after a Qantas pilot was stood down from a flight on suspicion of alcohol use, data from the Civil Aviation Safety Authority shows more than 100 airline employees have tested positive for drugs and alcohol over a 17-month period.

Random drug and alcohol tests of airline staff - including pilots, ground crews, air traffic controllers and other ‘‘safety sensitive’’ workers - showed 80 positives for drug use out of 19,402 tests, as well as another 24 positives for alcohol use out of 27,459 tests, data from the CASA has shown.

The drug and alcohol tests, conducted from September 2010 to February 2012, were used for pre-employment testing, upon suspicion of a staff member or for employees returning from rehabilitation for substance abuse. From 2008 and March 2012, random drug and alcohol sampling by the airlines themselves revealed 27 positives out of 51,645 tests for both substances.

The drug and alcohol use figures come after the pilot of a Qantas plane bound for Brisbane from Sydney was stood down minutes before take-off in August on suspicion of alcohol use. The government has implemented a drug and alcohol management regulatory regime since 2008, with random testing occurring since then.

CASA spokesman Peter Gibson noted that 0.41 per cent of totals had tested positive for drug use and only 0.087 per cent had test positive for alcohol. The airlines’ testing revealed a positive rate of 0.052 per cent.

‘‘The rate of positives for both the testing by aviation organisations and the random testing, is very, very low,’’ he said. ‘‘[But] naturally we'd like to see no positives at all.

‘‘To strive to achieve that, there are comprehensive education and training programs for all aviation employees to warn them about the dangers of drugs and alcohol, while at work.’’

In the test, the blood alcohol concentration limit was a 0.02 per cent. Drug limits were ‘‘in accordance with the Australian standard for oral fluid testing,’’ CASA said.

Article; http://www.smh.com.au/business/more-airline-staff-fail-drug-alcohol-tests-20121030-28gi3.html

RailCorp Cuts Drug Tests by Thosands

Posted by Drug Test Australia, October 30th, 2012

THOUSANDS FEWER RAILCORP DRUG TEST

Original:Lee Jeloscek, 7News Sydney

Updated October 29, 2012, 6:02 pm
http://au.news.yahoo.com/latest/a/-/latest/15244831/thousands-fewer-railcorp-drug-test/

RailCorp has been accused of putting cost cutting ahead of public safety by slashing the number of drug and alcohol tests on staff.

Its latest report shows there have been thousands fewer tests catching fewer intoxicated train drivers and station staff.

RailCorp says it's a drug and alcohol free workplace, but its commitment to ensuring that is under question.

"Public transport drivers and others are on safety critical jobs and it's absolutely critical that they be drug and alcohol free." Action for Public Transport spokesman Jim Donovan said.

The latest RailCorp stats reveal it's slashed testing of employees which includes drivers.

In the last financial year the number of random breath tests has dropped from nearly 20,000 to fewer than 14,000; down more than 30 per cent.

While the number of staff detected with a blood alcohol level above 0.02 has dropped from 13 to three.

The Shadow Transport Minister Penny Sharpe says that’s 6000 fewer tests.

“It's got to be cost cutting and it's not acceptable," Sharpe said.

"This is a massive cut to the drug and alcohol testing regime in New South Wales safety is of the utmost importance for passengers and public transport workers."

Drug testing has also been cut by 10 per cent from nearly 7000 to just over 6000.

Disturbingly, 21 staff had drugs in their system.

RailCorp says it's comfortably meeting the government's requirements.

"RailCorp is committed to ensuring that the safety to our passengers and our staff is our number one priority," spokesman Tony Eid said.

Following the Waterfall and Glenbrook train disasters staff testing was overhauled, and the union is calling for more change. It wants to replace the urine tests with oral swabs.

"RailCorp can investigate what a rail worker has done two weeks ago but they can't investigate what a rail worker has done two hours ago that doesn't improve safety," Rail Tram and Bus Union spokesman Bob Nanva said.

Police force passes the drug test; Victorian police

FEWER than 1 per cent of drug and alcohol tests of Victorian police have come up positive, with cannabis the most-detected drug.

Figures obtained by The Age under freedom of information laws show the force checked 1625 of its members in the five years since tests began, with 13 returning positive results.

Testing falls into four categories: targeted at police believed to be abusing drugs and alcohol; those obligatory after a ''critical incident'' such as a high-speed chase or police shooting; random and blanket testing of ''high risk'' work units; and testing on ''performance management'' grounds.

Targeted, or 'investigative'', testing has returned seven positives since 2008; three police have returned positive results in performance-based testing and three members of high-risk units - such as the drug squad and special operations group - have tested positive.

Two tested positive for both cocaine and heroin, five for cannabis, two for amphetamines, one for steroids, one for both steroids and amphetamines and two for alcohol.

''The alcohol and other drug testing policy focuses on the fitness for duty responsibilities of all Victoria Police employees,'' a police spokeswoman said. ''Employees need to be fit for duty and not affected by alcohol or other drugs. It is equally important that employees feel assured that colleagues are not affected by alcohol or other drugs. ''But it is as much a welfare-based issue as an ethical one. This is also about the community having trust in Victoria Police - and if our members are enforcing laws around illicit drug use, they also need to obey the same laws.

''The positive results confirm the drug and alcohol testing policy fully supports the ethical standards and behaviours expected of sworn members of Victoria Police.''

Police union secretary Greg Davies welcomed the low number of positive results, but said Victoria Police was using its power to test in high-risk areas - or ''specific work units'' - to unfairly take aim at certain suburban police stations.

''We're pleased, but not at all surprised, that the results of the drug testing within the police force are at the low levels they are,'' he said.

''We do, however, retain our concerns that the police force can walk into a police station and, for no apparent reason, determine that that is a specific work unit for the purposes of drug-testing everybody that works there.''

Adapted from The Age - Dan Oates

link: http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/police-force-passes-the-drug-test-20121021-27zlm.html

Stopping drug testing could lead to risk of injury, death or environmental catastrophe; Suncor argues

Suncor went to Alberta’s highest court Wednesday seeking to block a temporary injunction stopping them from starting a random alcohol-and-drug-testing operation.

Arguing that any delay could lead to a “greater risk” of injury, death or “environmental catastrophe,” Suncor lawyer Tom Wakeling asked Court of Appeal of Alberta Justice Jack Watson to stay the temporary injunction — which was granted in Court of Queen’s Bench on Friday — pending an appeal of the decision set for Nov. 26.

“Every day that passes, the risk increases,” said Wakeling, who suggested that the judge who granted the injunction was wrong to put the privacy rights of unionized Suncor workers above the company’s desire to have a safer workplace at its “inherently dangerous” oilsands operation near Fort McMurray.

Union lawyer Ritu Khullar asked for the stay application to be dismissed after questioning how Suncor could be facing “irreparable harm” by the temporary injunction when the company had announced in June that the random testing was going to begin on Oct. 15.

Khullar also argued that the random testing was a serious invasion of the privacy rights of the unionized workers and could cause irreparable harm to innocent employees.

Watson told the lawyers he would make a ruling as quickly as possible, but did not set a date for it.

On Friday, Justice Eric Macklin granted the temporary injunction and ordered the two sides to get to arbitration on an “expedited basis” regarding a grievance about the random testing which was earlier filed by the union.

Macklin also noted records show there are clearly alcohol and drug problems among workers at the oilsands plant.

Court heard there are 3,400 members of CEP (Communications, Energy and Paperworkers) Local 707 working at Suncor’s Fort McMurray oilsands operation.

Another 3,400 private contractors who work at the operation are slated to face the random testing on Jan. 1.

tony.blais@sunmedia.ca

http://www.edmontonsun.com/2012/10/17/suncor-argues-stopping-drug-testing-could-lead-to-risk-of-injury-death-or-environmental-catastrophe

Did Nike Attempt to Cover Up a Positive Lance Armstrong Drug Test?

Lance Armstrong’s slow and steady fall from grace turned into a complete freefall on Wednesday.

In the span of about 30 minutes, he lost both the chairmanship position at Livestrong and his endorsement deal with Nike. The former happened by choice, the latter was decided for him. Then, throughout the rest of the day, an assortment of other partners -- beginning with RadioShack and ending with Trek Bicycles -- announced that they would be cutting ties with this one-time American hero.

Could things possibly get any worse for Armstrong? Apparently, yes.

According to an interesting article by the New York Daily News (via Larry Brown Sports), at least part of the reason Armstrong hadn’t been exposed prior to now is because Nike allegedly bribed former UCI president Hein Verbruggen to cover up a 1999 drug test for him. Per that report:

One of those critics is Kathy LeMond, the wife of American cyclist Greg LeMond, who testified under oath during a 2006 deposition that Nike paid former UCI president Hein Verbruggen $500,000 to cover up a positive drug test… During a 2006 deposition related to the suit, Kathy LeMond testified that Julian Devries, a mechanic for Armstrong's team who was once close to her husband, had told her and others that Nike and Thom Weisel, a Bay Area banker who sponsored Armstrong's team, had wired $500,000 to a Swiss bank account that belonged to Verbruggen…The money, Kathy Lemond said Devries told her and several others, was sent to cover up a 1999 positive drug test for corticosteroids, which Armstrong had used to treat saddle sores. Devries, Kathy Lemond said during the deposition, had been disgusted by the way performance-enhancing drugs had polluted cycling

As you would expect, Nike vehemently denied the notion that they were a part of any cover-up whatsoever.

"Nike vehemently denies that it paid former UCI president Hein Verbruggen $500,000 to cover up a positive drug test," the company said in a statement. "Nike does not condone the use of illegal performance enhancing drugs."

That statement came out on Tuesday of this week. Nike announced that they were terminating their deal with Armstrong one day later.

One day.

"Due to the seemingly insurmountable evidence that Lance Armstrong participated in doping and misled Nike for more than a decade, it is with great sadness that we have terminated our contract with him," the company said on Wednesday (via ESPN). "Nike does not condone the use of illegal performance enhancing drugs in any manner. Nike plans to continue support of the Livestrong initiatives created to unite, inspire and empower people affected by cancer."

Of course Nike doesn’t condone it. Sure, they condoned it just a few days earlier, but that was totally different. How? Ah…

Look, an entire novel can be written about how badly Nike has botched this whole thing. Did they really bribe someone to protect Armstrong 13 years ago? It’s impossible to say. Frankly, it seems like a really huge risk for a company that has so much to lose. Nike is bigger than any one athlete – even one who was as huge as Armstrong in his heyday. And the unverifiable word of a banker who told a mechanic who told the wife of a bicyclist isn’t exactly something that deserves a whole lot of credence by itself.   

But this whole mess speaks to a broader problem for Nike. People’s perception of the company right now is that they severed ties with Armstrong not because they were truly morally outraged by the lie that he purportedly built his whole legacy on, but rather because they had milked all of the financial benefits they could out of him. And then, once they were done, they just tossed him aside.

Michael Vick killed dogs? No problem – he can still sell gear. Tiger Woods is a serial cheater? No problem – he can still sell gear. Kobe Bryant was once accused of rape? No problem – he can still sell gear. Armstrong perhaps (read: probably) misled a legion of cancer patients who were inspired by him regarding whether or not he abused performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs) in a sport where PED usage runs rampant? Problem. Why? Because he can’t sell gear anymore.

This has been a brutal 24 hours for Armstrong, no doubt about it. But Nike’s public image hasn’t fared much better.

By Alex Groberman, Thu, October 18, 2012

http://www.opposingviews.com/i/sports/other-sports/did-nike-attempt-cover-positive-lance-armstrong-drug-test

Illicit drug expulsions up 50 per cent, Queensland state school

SCHOOLYARD drug expulsions have soared with one state school expelling 10 students involved with illicit substances last financial year.

Teachers warn the rise reflects an increase in drug use in the community.

The Department of Education, Training and Employment's (DETE) annual report reveals the number of exclusions handed out to state school students for "substance misconduct involving an illicit substance" jumped about 50 per cent last financial year from 160 in 2010-2011 to 237.

Six were in primary school levels. The illicit drugs category does not include alcohol or cigarettes.

Merrimac State High School had the highest number of illicit drug exclusions with 10 students expelled in 2011-12.

Mabel Park, Dakabin and Maroochydore state high schools excluded seven pupils each.

The State Government declared last year that it had cracked down on drugs in schools following an increase in pupils caught with them in 2009 and 2010

Last financial year was also the first in recent history that Government principals were able to expel students, over the entire 12 months, without departmental approval.

The Government had predicted the new powers would spark a jump in exclusions, but principals disagreed.

Queensland Secondary Principals' Association president Norm Fuller said he still didn't think the principal power was behind the jump, with many more cautious because they had to withstand any challenges.

"I would certainly say there has been a tough stance on drugs," Mr Fuller said.

Queensland Teachers' Union president Kevin Bates said the number of students excluded for illicit drugs was "minuscule" given 500,000 attended state schools, "but any number is concerning".

"Because the reality is any issue of drugs in schools is a major concern because clearly for many of those more serious offences it's not just about possession, which is serious enough, but it is often about kids providing drugs to other kids," Mr Bates said.

DETE acting assistant director-general Marg Pethiyagoda said drugs were a community problem "and schools are part of the community". She said any incident involving drugs in schools were reported to police.

DETE Minister John-Paul Langbroek said illicit drugs had no place in any school and principals had his full support in taking a tough stance.

Independent and Catholic schools do not have to provide exclusion and suspension figures, leaving the state sector in the spotlight over the issue.

TANYA CHILCOTT 

From:The Courier-Mail 

October 19, 2012 1:00AM

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/queensland-state-school-illicit-drug-expulsions-up-50-per-cent/story-e6frg6n6-1226498898148