Inquiry into the misuse/abuse of benzodiazepines and other forms of pharmaceutical drugs in Victoria : final report / Drugs and Crime Prevention Committee.

  • Victoria. Parliament. Drugs and Crime Prevention Committee
Date:
2007
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Licence: In copyright

Credit: Inquiry into the misuse/abuse of benzodiazepines and other forms of pharmaceutical drugs in Victoria : final report / Drugs and Crime Prevention Committee. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    98/524 (page 76)
    including benzodiazepines, using modern analytical techniques and clearly provide a report to that effect to the police and to the courts, !9? Professor Drummer analysed the cases that had been referred to the Victorian Institute of Forensic Medicine. This showed that benzodiazepines were present in 65 per cent of impaired drivers (defined above by Professor Drummer), 15.8 per cent of injured drivers and between 3 and 5 per cent of fatally injured drivers. Professor Drummer also noted that 33 per cent of injured women drivers aged more than 56 years tested positive.'!° Professor Drummer explained how driving performance could be impaired by benzodiazepines. They [benzodiazepines] tend to have manifestations that are similar to alcohol misuse. Their [drivers’] reflexes are not as good; perhaps they are wobbling on the road a bit; they are drifting in and out of lanes; their attention span is reduced; their peripheral vision is reduced...A police officer could well think they are drunk but be surprised there is no alcohol present in their breath.!! Dr Drummer’s evidence concurs with that in the published literature. On-road driving studies have found that the benzodiazepines significantly impair driving competence. For example, Alford and Vester (2005) reviewing six such studies found that the impairment associated with some benzodiazepines was the equivalent of driving above 0.10 per cent blood alcohol level. In a comprehensive review of the literature published between 1970 and 2002 on benzodiazepine use and driving, Kelly, Darke and Ross (2004) found that, after cannabis, benzodiazepines were the most commonly detected drug in drivers who had been involved in road crashes. More recent research undertaken by Dr Chin Wei Ch’ng and Associate Professor Mark Fitzgerald and their colleagues (2007) at the National Trauma Research Institute found 15.6 per cent of adult drivers who presented for treatment at the Alfred Hospital Emergency and Trauma Centre between December 2000 and April 2002 as a result of a motor vehicle crash had benzodiazepines in their system. Similar results were found in a study conducted by Associate Professor Griggs (2007) and his colleagues at the Royal Adelaide Hospital Trauma Service, which found that benzodiazepines were present in 14 per cent of drivers attending the hospital’s Emergency and Trauma Departments. However, drug driving is an extremely complex issue and there are numerous complicating factors that need to be taken into consideration when developing strategies to address addressing pharmaceutical drugs and driving. Firstly, limited research has been undertaken to ascertain the actual degree of impairment caused by pharmaceutical drugs on driving (Kaba, Dannzer & Lehner 2000), and findings from studies that have investigated the impact of benzodiazepines on driving performance have been inconsistent. For example, a 2007 review of the literature undertaken for the Australian Drug Foundation (ADF) found: A case-control study analysing the blood taken from 2500 crash-injured South Australian drivers indicated a clear and significant relationship between benzodiazepines and culpability (Longo, Hunter, Lokan, White & White, 2000). Interestingly, Longo et al (2000) also found a significant relationship between benzodiazepine concentration and culpability. That is, among those who had a benzodiazepine concentration at or above the therapeutic level, culpability was significantly greater than for the non-user group. 109 Professor Olaf Drummer, Head (Forensic and Scientific Services), Victorian Institute of Forensic Medicine, Evidence given to the Drugs and Crime Prevention Committee, Inquiry into the Misuse/Abuse of Benzodiazepines and Other Forms of Pharmaceutical Drugs in Victoria, Public Hearings, Melbourne, 13 July 2006. 110 Submission of Professor Olaf Drummer, Head (Forensic and Scientific Services), Victorian Institute of Forensic Medicine, to the Drugs and Crime Prevention Committee, Inquiry into the Misuse/Abuse of Benzodiazepines and Other Forms of Pharmaceutical Drugs in Victoria, July 2006. 111 Professor Olaf Drummer, Head (Forensic and Scientific Services), Victorian Institute of Forensic Medicine, Evidence given to the Drugs and Crime Prevention Committee, Inquiry into the Misuse/Abuse of chap cp and Other Forms of Pharmaceutical Drugs in Victoria, Public Hearings, Melbourne, 13 July