Police custody following drink-driving: A prospective study

Police custody following driving under the influence of cannabis: A prospective study

“…A single woman was wrongly suspected to be drug driving, which could be related to a common representation in police officers that illegal substance users are men, although 30-40% of cannabis consumers are women [26,27]. The low percentage of drug drivers and controls considered unfit for detention after medical examination (0-3% in all groups) was similar to that reported in drink drivers in France and in all detainees in the UK or in the Netherlands [11,12,28].…”

“…Drink-driving detainees, who commonly present traumatic injuries and are reluctant to request medical examination, need special attention from attending physicians in police custody [12]. In the present study, arrested drug drivers were young, healthy, and infrequently reported assaults or presented traumatic injuries, which does not put them in a high risk medical condition.…”

“…Cocaine was found in only 1% of drug drivers in our study. Drug-driving custody mainly concerned young male adults, as expected and observed in other causes of detention [8,12]. A single woman was wrongly suspected to be drug driving, which could be related to a common representation in police officers that illegal substance users are men, although 30-40% of cannabis consumers are women [26,27].…”

“…Arrested drivers from the two groups requested medical examination more rarely than controls and as infrequently as drink drivers (12,12, and 12% vs. 44%, P < 0.0001). They had rarer alcohol dependence than drink drivers and controls ( , all P < 0.05), received medication less frequently than controls during custody (all P < 0.0001), and were all fit for detention.…”

“…Custody following driving under the influence of drugs has never been studied. A recent study showed that detained drink drivers required special medical attention, as about 30% of them had recent traumatic injuries [12]. We hypothesized that drug intoxication while driving could correspond to specific medical conditions of the detainee.…”