Abstract：
Drug-impaired driving is an increasing public safety concern across Canada, particularly due to the demonstrated increase in use of recreational drugs such as cocaine. Cocaine is a central nervous system stimulant drug; however, it can impair an individual\'s driving ability in both the stimulant and crash phases. Despite the scientific consensus regarding cocaine\'s potential for driving impairment, there is relatively little information available regarding blood concentrations and associated observations of impairment in suspected impaired drivers. Retrospective data analysis was performed to evaluate suspected impaired driving cases in which cocaine and/or benzoylecgonine were detected alone, or in combination with other drugs, in blood and urine samples submitted to the Toxicology Section of the Centre of Forensic Sciences with incident dates between 2021 and 2022. Cocaine and/or benzoylecgonine were detected in 46% (blood) and 66% (urine) of the total impaired driving samples submitted. In 41 cases where cocaine and/or benzoylecgonine were the only drug finding in blood, concentrations of cocaine and benzoylecgonine ranged from 0.0073 to 0.26 mg/L (mean 0.096 mg/L) and 0.13 to 5.3 mg/L (mean 2.1 mg/L), respectively. Driving observations reported by the arresting officer in cases where cocaine and/or benzoylecgonine were the only drug finding in blood and urine included the driver being involved in a collision, the vehicle leaving the roadway, erratic driving and the driver being asleep at the wheel; observations of drug impairment reported by the drug recognition expert at the time of driver evaluation included abnormal speech patterns, poor balance/incoordination, abnormal body movements and the individual falling asleep. The results provide concentrations of cocaine and benzoylecgonine observed in suspected impaired drivers, insight into observations that may be associated with prior cocaine use and additional information to inform on the effects of cocaine on driving.
摘要：
毒品受损驾驶是加拿大各地越来越多的公共安全问题，特别是由于可卡因等娱乐性药物的使用量增加。可卡因是一种中枢神经系统兴奋剂；然而，它可以削弱个人的驾驶能力，在刺激和碰撞阶段。尽管关于可卡因的潜在驾驶障碍的科学共识，关于可疑受损驾驶员的血液浓度和相关受损观察的信息相对较少。进行回顾性数据分析以评估仅检测到可卡因和/或苯甲酰秋子碱的可疑驾驶受损病例，或与其他药物合用，在提交给法医科学中心毒理学科的血液和尿液样本中，事件日期在2021年至2022年之间。在提交的所有受损驾驶样本中，有46％（血液）和66％（尿液）检测到可卡因和/或苯甲酰秋葵碱。在41例血液中发现的可卡因和/或苯甲酰基芽子碱是唯一的药物，可卡因和苯甲酰秋葵碱的浓度范围分别为0.0073至0.26mg/L（平均0.096mg/L）和0.13至5.3mg/L（平均2.1mg/L）。在血液和尿液中发现可卡因和/或苯甲酰基秋葵碱是唯一的药物的情况下，逮捕人员报告的驾驶观察包括驾驶员发生碰撞，离开道路的车辆，不稳定的驾驶和驾驶员在方向盘上睡着；在驾驶员评估时，药物识别专家（DRE）报告的药物损害观察包括异常的语音模式，平衡差/不协调，身体异常运动和个人入睡。结果提供了在可疑受损的驾驶员中观察到的可卡因和苯甲酰秋黄碱的浓度，深入了解可能与先前使用可卡因有关的观察结果，以及其他信息，以告知可卡因对驾驶的影响。
