Is Drug Driving Treated Comparably With Drink Driving?

Question:

Are the magistrates sentencing guidelines in relation to drink-driving offences comparable to the type of sentence that you would get for drug driving?

Emma Says:

Maybe. At the moment there are no formal sentencing guidelines in relation to drug driving offences and therefore the magistrates may try to apply their guidelines for drink-driving offences to drug driving offences. This would be wrong. We’ve heard from a number of pharmacologist who state that the level of ‘intoxication/impairment’ is not comparable.

Therefore being twice the legal limit in alcohol is not the same as being twice the legal limit in cannabis in terms of intoxication/impairment. You also have to remember that the drug driving limits are set at zero tolerance, whereas the drink-driving levels are not. There is clearly a level of tolerance in relation to drink-driving as the current legislation stands.