Italy Introduces Draconian Cannabis Driving Laws With Jails Terms Of Up To 1 Year & 6K Euros Fine | Cannabis Law Report | Where to order Skittles Moonrock online
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The Italian Government’s all out attack on cannabis continues apace
A new highway code comes into force next Saturday in Italy that sets jail terms of up to one year, a three-year license confiscation and fines of up to 6,000 euros for drivers who test positive for cannabis will have “devastating effects on the lives of many people,” More Europe leader Riccardo Magi said Sunday.
Magia pointed out that traces of THC, the active ingredient in the drug, may remain in the blood for as long as 80 hours after the person smoked marijuana or otherwise consumed cannabis.
He also said Transport Minister Matteo Salvini had done a U-turn in exempting people who use medical marijuana from the penalties “at the last minute, having realised that “this legal mess would have been knocked down in court by the first appeal filed.”
This paper may be worth reading for those of you who like to dig deeper
Drug driving in Italy. The results of the first roadside drug testing service utilizing on-site confirmatory analysis between 2019 and 2022
Highlights•
A mobile laboratory was set up in 2019 to support road safety services.•
These services included screening and confirmation tests and medical assessment.•
2082 samples were collected and 9 % of the drivers tested positive for illicit drugs.•
The rate of drug drivers was higher than that reported in DRUID and other studies.•
The most prevalent illicit drugs found were THC (72 %) and cocaine (41 %).
Abstract
Background
Drug driving represents a public safety concern, and the size of this issue in Italy is not fully known. Drug testing is composed of two steps: 1) screening and 2) confirmatory analysis. The second step, and the associate medical examination to assess the state of impairment, usually are not performed right after the screening as they require specialized personnel and instrumental equipment that are not historically available at roadblocks. These pitfalls make this process both complicated and time-consuming.
Methods
A mobile laboratory was set up in 2019 by the Forensic Lab Service S.r.l. (limited liability company) to improve roadblock timing, planning, as well as to shed light on the extent of the drug driving issue in Italy. Drug screenings were performed using DrugWipe® Saliva testing. Confirmatory analysis was performed on oral fluids by liquid chromatography coupled with tandem mass spectrometry. A dedicated room of the mobile laboratory was also designed for drug driving medical assessment.
Result
2082 samples were collected during 88 road safety services held in different locations across Italy. In total, 9 % of the tested subjects were positive to both the screening and the confirmatory analysis. The most prevalent illicit drugs found in this study were THC (72 %), followed by cocaine (41 %). Drug drivers were mostly male (93 %) and younger than 30 years of age (58 %).
Conclusions
The prevalence of drivers testing positive for illicit drugs resulted to be higher compared to the results obtained in the DRUID project and to other surveys previously performed in Italy. These data demonstrate the need for control services to improve road safety in regards to drug driving.
Introduction
Illicit drugs may have a negative impact on driving performance. The increased risk of road accidents related to drug driving represents a public safety concern, which has been gaining more attention worldwide in the last few decades. This concern is reflected from the increasing number of studies, such as the DRUID project, publications shedding light on this issue, political agreements and the EU action plans that have been forged in recent years [1], [2], [3], [4], [5]. A retrospective study published in 2019 concluded that a noteworthy percentage of Italian drivers involved in road traffic crashes tests positive for alcohol (16.2 %) and illicit substances (5.8 %) [2]. From the DRUID project, drug drivers only represented 3.9 % of the study population in the Veneto region of Italy. These results included data collected during both high-risk hours, a period clearly distinguished by a known positive correlation between drug driving and accident occurrence, and low-risk hours [6]. In fact, several surveys performed in recent years reported a 10 % or higher prevalence of drug use and abuse among drivers when study surveys only included weekend nights and in precisely selected geographic locations [6]. Driving under the influence of drugs is forbidden by the Italian law and is punishable according to article 187 of the traffic code [7].
The current drug testing protocol is a two-step procedure which starts with a mandatory initial drug screening. These roadside screens are occasionally performed by the police using point-of-collection immunoassay testing devices. In the event a sample tests positive for one or more drugs, the second confirmatory analysis step becomes required. The second step utilizes more accurate analytical techniques, such as gas or liquid chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry (GC-MS or LC-MS) [8] or tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS). These are highly advanced and sensitive instruments that require specially trained personnel to carry out the analysis. Therefore, in a situation in which confirmation is required, the driver must be escorted to a healthcare facility where either a blood or urine sample is collected and analysed. The lab results are normally made available in a few days. However, the main pitfall of this confirmation sample collection procedure requiring a healthcare facility is the time that elapses between the screening and the collection for confirmatory analysis. This is highly variable and can result in a significant reduction of circulating drug levels due to drug metabolism and excretion [9]. This is particularly evident in the analysis of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), where delayed blood tests are unlikely to confirm a drug exposure above the legally defined cut-off value [10]. The result of the confirmatory analysis, in these cases, would not be representative of the exposure of the driver to illicit substances at time of screening. This issue can be solved by collecting the sample for the confirmatory analysis on-site, right after a positive screening assessment is obtained. More recently, oral fluid sample have been validated as an appropriate bio-specimen that can be obtained on-site and then sent to an accredited laboratory and provide legally defensible result. This procedure for confirmatory analysis will have lab results available after a few days The use of oral fluid as a viable and convenient alternative specimen for drug testing [11], [12], [13] provides a rapid and non-invasive method for sample collection that can be performed on-site and does not require the intervention of a health professional. This sample collection technique is currently used for illicit drug testing in routine police practice and thus can be readily adoptable for drug driving enforcement.
The new guidelines drafted and approved by the Ministerial Circular of February 11, 2019, allowed to enrich the usual roadside checks with private mobile laboratories and specialized personnel for drug driving assessment [14]. The Forensic Lab Service S.r.l. (limited liability company) set up a mobile laboratory specifically for this purpose. This laboratory is arranged into three rooms, in addition to the driving cabin, as depicted in Fig. 1. Each room is equipped with independent air conditioning systems to ensure adequate temperature for laboratory function. The first room is used for medical examination and is appropriately named the “Doctor’s Room”. The second is dedicated to sample preparation, while the third room in Fig. 1, the “Instruments Room”, houses the LC-MS system that is used to perform the analyses.
Electricity to power the laboratory instruments, computers, lighting and conditioning is obtained from a portable diesel generator. This mobile laboratory was employed for both roadside screening and confirmation analyses from October 2019 until 2023. The main objectives of this publication are to introduce a novel strategy to identify subjects driving under the influence of illicit drugs, to estimate the extent of drug driving in Italy, share data regarding the frequency of drivers testing positive for one or more illicit drugs, identify trends in substance type, and finally compare these data with other studies. The prevalence rate of drugs was calculated on samples collected on road safety services held in different Italian locations as a part of routine police activities.
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