[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 74 (Tuesday, June 1, 2004)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6269-S6270]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




           DRUG IMPAIRED DRIVING RESEARCH AND PREVENTION ACT

  Mrs. FEINSTEIN. Mr. President, I rise to co-sponsor, along with my 
colleague Senator Grassley, the Drug Impaired Driving Research and 
Prevention Act. This legislation will help us combat an often 
overlooked killer on our Nation's roads--drugged driving.
  Drivers who are drugged are not as easy to catch as drivers who are 
drunk. We have not yet developed technology to quickly identify drivers 
who operate vehicles under the influence of drugs. States do not have 
consistent laws to punish drugged driving. And law enforcement does not 
have adequate training to detect and prosecute drugged drivers.
  To help make our roads safer, this legislation takes a tough stance 
while respecting State's traditional law enforcement powers.
  First, the bill directs the U.S. Department of Transportation to 
draft a model law to suggest to the States. That model law will make it 
a crime for an individual to drive with ``any detectable amount'' of a 
controlled substance in his or her system, or when drugs noticeably 
affect mental or physical abilities. For the worst repeat offenders, 
the law has tough penalties to show that we mean business--over a year 
in jail.
  Second, the law calls for research into technology to let us detect 
drugged drivers quickly. Right now, there is nothing like a 
``breathalyzer'' test for drugs.
  And third, this legislation will have the Department of 
Transportation develop training programs so that law enforcement 
departments throughout the Nation can learn how to better detect 
drugged drivers.
  Why do we need this bill? Because drugged drivers are a reckless 
danger to everyone else on the roads. Consider the following: In 2002, 
11 million people drove while under the influence of drugs in the 
United States. Those numbers translate into tragedy. Illegal drugs are 
used by about 10 to 22 percent of drivers involved in all motor vehicle 
crashes.
  Despite this documented risk, drugged driving is tricky to catch. We 
catch drugged drivers less often than we catch drunk drivers. Too few 
police officers have received training that would help them take 
drugged drivers off the streets. And in the fifty States, there is 
simply no consistent method to identify drugs in the bodies of drivers.
  Not surprisingly, this legislation has wide support. The federal 
Office of National Drug Control Policy is backing it. So is the 
Partnership for a Drug Free America, the International Association of 
Chiefs of Police, the Community Anti-Drug Coalitions of America,

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and other groups. The House of Representatives has already voted to 
approve the legislation, as part of the Transportation Equity Act.
  This legislation will help the states keep drugged drivers off our 
roads. It will do so by encouraging the States to make the laws against 
drugged driving uniform, by researching better technology to test for 
drugs, and by giving law enforcement more training.
  I urge my colleagues to join us in this effort.

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