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Freedom of information request reference no: 01.FOI.24.035164
I note you seek access to the following information:
I am writing to request information for training, procedures, and guidance provided to officers in your constabulary concerning individuals using prescription medications, specifically medical cannabis users, who may be stopped while operating a vehicle.
I have today decided to disclose the located information to you in full.
Please find below information pursuant to your request above.
Q1 - Please could you provide copies of relevant training documents/excerpts that explain to officers how to manage situations where prescription medication users, generally or medical cannabis-specific, are stopped while operating a vehicle and would test positive, but their driving is not impaired?
The new recruits’ training curriculum covers Drug Offences and Drink/Drug Driving but nothing specifically on medical cannabis or prescription drugs. The only area officers are being made aware is the impairment test for driving under the influence of drink or drugs.
Frontline police officers are provided with training in relation to offences committed under the Road Traffic Act (RTA) 1988 relating to drink/drug driving matters. This includes roadside testing as well as an overview of custody procedures.
Custody officers are given more in depth training in relation to all aspects of the relevant custody procedures relating to drink/drugs driving offences including blood and urine tests.
Traffic Police Officers (MO8 – Road Traffic Policing Command RTPC) are given specific training in relation to Field Impairment Testing (FIT) and Roadside Drug Testing (Drug Wipe/Drager). Frontline officers are not trained in these two roadside tests for drug driving impairment and guidance is given to call a specialist trained RTPC officer to the scene if they suspect drug driving to carry out these tests.
There is no specific training given in relation to medical cannabis medication users in these circumstances, although the custody officer training does cover general defences to RTA drug driving legislation when dealing with prescription medication and the procedures to take.
Frontline Officers – IPLDP Course Lesson 0112 – Drink and Drug driving
Learning outcomes
1. Explain the use of an Electronic Screening Device (ESD) to administer a breath test and describe the process for a roadside drug and impairment testing.
2. Explain how to and deal with an offence of driving / attempt to drive whilst unfit through drink or drugs (S4 Road Traffic Act 1988).
3. Explain how to deal with the offence of driving / attempt to drive whilst having alcohol in the excess of the prescribed limit (S5 Road Traffic Act 1988)
4. Explain how to deal with the offence of driving with a concentration of specified controlled drug above specified limit (S5A Road Act 1988)
5. Outline the Station procedure and use of the Evidential breath test machine (S.7 Road Traffic Act 1988)
6. Outline the hospital procedure relating to drink/drug driving (S9 Road Traffic Act 1988).
Ask the recruit police officers: What are the preliminary tests you can require a driver to undertake?
- Preliminary Breath Test (Alcohol Only)
- Field Impairment Test
- Preliminary Roadside Drugs Test
Preliminary field impairment test (FIT)
Explain to the recruit police officers that of course, if someone is obviously unfit, as in drunk and falling about or if they fall out of the car as you open the door – you can arrest the driver under Section 4 without delay.
However, there may be times where you’re unsure and can call a Roads Policing Officer (Traffic) to conduct a roadside test. You must require this test in the same way as a breath test – failure to comply is an offence.
Impairment can be through drink or drugs.
This is a series of tests that will only be conducted by authorised and trained officers, and they are covered by a code of practice.
The tests are conducted roadside and are:
At the end of this, the trained officer will decide if a person is impaired (positive).
If the test is positive (conducted by an authorised officer), officers will be expected to take over the arrest, and the authorised officer will provide a statement providing evidence of impairment.
Note: Although the law details blood and urine for drugs sample the only acceptable sample to the lab is BLOOD. So, for a suspected drugs offence you must take blood.
Preliminary roadside drugs test
Say for example you stop a car that smells strongly of cannabis. If, upon questioning, you suspect the driver to have been smoking cannabis then you can require the driver to take a drugs swab test. There is no need for them to be impaired.
1. Call for an authorised officer to conduct and drugs mouth wipe. If the drugs wipe is positive, then arrest and take into custody where a sample of blood will be required - failure to provide the blood is an offence.
2. Note that they are currently using the Drager DT5000 (more information here: The Dräger DrugTest® 5000: Overview).
3. And the Saliva Drug Wipe device:
Presently the roadside drugs wipe test only looks for cannabis and cocaine – however, these two substances account for 83% of the drugs used by drivers.
Don’t forget many young drivers drive around after smoking cannabis and whilst they may not be impaired, they will often be over the prescribed limit.
4. The Dräger DrugTest® 5000: Overview (New machine being rolled out)
You Tube. 2020. The Drager Drug Test 5000. [online] Available at: <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J3tnMnsvQHA> [Accessed 10 September 2020].
5. Current machine is the: Securetec Detektions-Systeme AG. 2020. Saliva Drug Test Drugwipe® S | Securetec Detektions-Systeme AG. [Accessed 10 September 2020].
Custody Officers
Specific training is provided on the custody Officers course in relation to the relevant offences and procedures in custody. This includes both drink/drug driving procedures as well as general training around recording all medication taken by a detainee, whether prescription or otherwise and the ability to obtain medical advice/examination of the detainee from a Forensic Medical Examiner in custody. When a person is arrested and provides a ‘defence’, that should only be explored by means of formal PACE interview.
- Section 5A -
- (1)This section applies where a person (“D”) —
- (a) drives or attempts to drive a motor vehicle on a road or other public place, or
- (b) is in charge of a motor vehicle on a road or other public place,
- and there is in D’s body a specified controlled drug.
- (2) D is guilty of an offence if the proportion of the drug in D’s blood or urine exceeds the specified limit for that drug.
7(1) In the course of an investigation into whether a person has committed an offence under the following sections section 3A, section 4, section 5 of this Act a constable may, subject to the following provisions of this section and section 9 of this Act, require him -
(a) to provide two specimens of breath for analysis by means of a device of a type approved by the Secretary of State
OR
(b) to provide a specimen of blood or urine for a laboratory test.
7(1A) In the course of an investigation into whether a person has committed an offence under section 5A of this Act a constable may…. require the person to provide a specimen of blood or urine for a laboratory test.
7(2) A requirement under this section to provide specimens of breath can only be made -
(a) at a police station,
(b) at a hospital, or
(c) at or near a place where a relevant breath test has been administered to the person concerned or would have been so administered but for his failure to co-operate with it. (No road side evidential breath testing instrument Type Approved yet).
Section 7(3)(b) allows an officer to require blood/urine specimens when:
• as the result of the administration of a preliminary drug test, the constable making the requirement has reasonable cause to believe that the person has a drug in his body, OR
Section 7(3)(c) allows an officer to require blood/urine specimens when:
- the suspected offence is one under section 3A, 4 or 5A of this Act and the constable making the requirement has been advised by a medical practitioner that the condition of the person might be due to some drug.
For section 5A - although legislation is written for blood and urine samples, you can only take blood samples as there are no specified limits set for urine as it is not reliable.
As with Post Incident Consumption, any drug consumption claimed or mentioned are noted, but no further questioning takes place unless it is in a PACE compliant interview. With S.5A it may be prudent to wait the result of the interview before considering any proceedings.
The statutory defence (5A(3)) only applies if:
a) The drug has been prescribed to the subject for medical or dental reasons
b) The drug is being used in accordance with prescriber’s, supplier’s or manufacturer’s directions.
c) Possession of the drug taken immediately before taking it was not unlawful by virtue of S5(1) Misuse of Drugs Act 1971
Such a defence is not available to the subject where the offence is one of driving etc. whilst unfit through drugs contrary to Sec 4 RTA.
The defence cannot be used (5A(4)) if:
a) Taken contrary to advice given (by the person who has prescribed or supplied the drug) about the amount of time that should elapse between taking the drug and driving a motor vehicle
b) contrary to any accompanying instructions about that matter (so far as consistent with any such advice) given by the manufacturer or distributor of the drug.
It is for the driver to raise this claim, but burden of proof relies upon the prosecution.
Trainer Note: It MUST be emphasised that COZART, ALERE or any other non-approved drug testing kit, cannot used to conduct this test.
At present, the preliminary drug test ‘DRYWIPE’ is being trialled by RTPC and used across the MPS. Should the need arise in custody, then a request can be made for a RTPC officer to attend (if nearby and the time elapsed is not likely to allow for the level of the drug to ‘diminish’ in the subject’s blood). If the test is positive, there is
NO need for a doctor or healthcare professional to be called. The effect of a positive test is that the IO can go straight to requiring a blood specimen in support of the drugs investigation.
MO8 RTPC Field Impairment Testing
Course Code: GP156 - 3 Days in Duration
This course equips the Students with the Theoretical, Legal and Practical skills to recognise and deal with suspected offences under Section 4 & 5A of the Road Traffic act regarding impairment at the roadside.
It is aimed at Uniformed Police Officers deployed within (but not limited to) the Roads Policing Arena and covered Field Impairment Procedures, Drug Wipe and Drager Drug Test 5000 Drug analyser.
This course currently forms part of the DX052 RTPC induction course, so new Roads Policing Officers should opt for the complete induction course as opposed to this course.
Q2 - Are alternative sobriety tests ever used, and under what circumstances?
a) If yes, does this take into account the physical difficulties a prescription user may have?
b) Please could you provide any supporting guidance or documentation about this given to front line officers.
As above – see the Field Impairment Test.
Q3 - Do your officers have any specific training around the use of prescription cannabis?
a) Please could you provide a copy/excerpt of any relevant training or guidance.
There is no specific training within the courses delivered to frontline police officers in relation to the use of prescription cannabis. However there are several articles on the internal MPS communications system covering the topic and providing guidance as below. The guidance provided to officers is based on the NPCC advice and factsheets as per the links in the articles.
Aware news articles - 02 November 2018 Legalisation of cannabis-based products for medicinal use
Following recommendations from the Chief Medical Officer and the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs, the Home Secretary has announced that cannabis-based products for medicinal use will be available on prescription from Thursday, 1 November for patients suffering from certain medical conditions.
This does NOT mean that cannabis is legal; it remains a Class B controlled drug. The Home Office has also stated that this development does not mean that the recreational use of cannabis might be considered for legalisation.
Chief Inspector Craig Carrington from the Central Drugs Team says, “Medicinal cannabis will shortly be prescribed, under certain controlled circumstances, to those who will benefit from its use. Unfortunately, there will be those who will try to exploit these circumstances. As professionals, it is important that we all know the circumstances between legitimate, lawful possession and criminal possession. The changes are clear, cannabis has not been legalised, but some products will be available as medicines”
The NPCC Drugs Lead, ACC Jason Harwin has released guidance for front line staff concerning this change in legislation:
The Met’s Specialist Drugs Advisor, Ian Broughton says,a “It is vitally important that our staff understand this change in legislation. Cannabis remains a controlled drug because of the proven harms it can do, especially to our young people. We are already seeing drug dealers attempting to avoid prosecution by claiming that their cannabis is medicinal or by packaging it in counterfeit containers with fake labels. The guidance issued by the NPCC is clear and I implore all staff to read and digest it. Whilst it is paramount that we do not remove medicines from legitimate patients it is also important that we continue to uphold the law in relation to cannabis”
Specialist GMC register
You can search the register for free - when a hit comes back there will be a field that says ‘Specialist Register Entry Date’. Only doctors who have a relevant entry on that field are the specialists able to prescribe.
Registration and licensing - GMC
NPCC PowerPoint:
Operational Notices - 10/12/2020 Cannabis Cards launched 30 November 2020
From November 2020 there will be approximately 30 thousand Cancard registered medicinal cannabis patients in the UK who legally qualify for a private prescription.
In order to help police identify these genuine medicinal consumers, an ID card project has been launched with the assistance of policing organisations, including the NPCC and doctors.
Cancard exists to assist front-line police officers when dealing with medicinal possession.
If you come across one – check that it’s genuine using the information in the links below and consider outcomes under NPCC guidance with regards to prescription possession.
Q4 - Please could you provide excerpts of any guidance provided to front-line officers on procedures around prescription medication, particularly but not exclusively:
• Under what circumstances confiscation of prescription medication is reasonable?
• Under what circumstances arrest of a prescription medication holder is reasonable?
• What actions a police officer should take to verify if a prescription is genuine?
• What actions a police officer should take when a member of the public raises legislation they are unfamiliar with?
- General training is also given to frontline police officers around all aspects of ‘investigation’. This is not specific to prescription medication.
- General training is given to frontline officers in relation to their powers of arrest, search and seizure under Police and Criminal Evidence Act (PACE) 1984. Use of these powers would depend on the individual circumstances of the situation faced by the officer and their execution of these powers would need to be proportionate, legal, accountable and necessary. Officers are trained to use the National Decision Model and the Code of Ethics when making policing decisions. This is not specific to prescription medication.
A general outline of the basic principles are outlined in IPLDP Course lessons 16 and 145 as below:
• Gives accountability for your decision and transparency in why a decision was made.
• Allows the right standard of behaviour the public and the service would expect.
• It will be made in an honest, fair and objective way.
• Done for the right reasons in the right way
• It’s done in the public interest.
• Human Rights Act will always apply.
• Beware of bias, which can lead to discriminatory or prejudicial behaviour.
• Avoid bias by making sure your decisions are based on objective information.
• The Code of Ethics - Ethical policing principles & Guidance for ethical and professional behaviour in policing (‘C’) should be intrinsic to every decision you make. This provides accountability and transparency. It ensures that you are making decisions for the right reasons and in the right way.
• The Human Rights Act should always be considered in regard to powers, policies and legislation (‘P’).
• THRIVE+ should be used as the risk assessment model in the NDM process.
• The NDM is able to adapt to new information and intelligence.
• These changes can cause the model to be revisited.
• This can happen as many times as needed as the situation changes or develops.
The trainer will then ask the cohort to suggest measures that could be used to ensure use of discretion is ethical and professional
These should include:
• On-the-spot accountability (e.g. information provision).
• Record keeping.
• Briefing and debriefing.
• Supervision.
• Reviewing decisions and learning lessons (e.g. case reviews).
• Continuing professional development (CPD).
The trainer will introduce the COP principles of risk which allow operational decision making /discretion to made and also underpin the NDM.
There are ten principles
• The willingness to make decisions in conditions of uncertainty (i.e., risk taking) is a core professional requirement of all members of the police service.
• Maintaining or achieving the safety, security and wellbeing of individuals and communities is a primary consideration in risk decision making
• Risk taking involves judgement and balance. Decision makers are required to consider the value and likelihood of the possible benefits of a particular decision against the seriousness and likelihood of the possible harms.
• Harm can never be totally prevented. Risk decisions should, therefore, be judged by the quality of the decision making, not by the outcome.
• Making risk decisions, and reviewing others’ risk decision making, is difficult. This needs to take into account whether they involved dilemmas or emergencies, were part of a sequence of decisions or might appropriately be taken by other agencies
• The standard expected and required of members of the police service is that their risk decisions should be consistent with those a body of officers of similar rank, specialism or experience would have taken in the same circumstances
• Whether to record a decision is a risk decision in itself which should be left to professional judgement. The decision whether or not to make a record, and the extent of that record, should be made after considering the likelihood of harm occurring and its seriousness
• To reduce risk aversion and improve decision making, policing needs a culture that learns from successes as well as failures. Good risk taking should be identified, recognised and shared.
• Since good risk taking depends on quality information, the police service will work with partner agencies and others to share relevant information about those who pose risk or those who are vulnerable to the risk of harm
• Members of the police service who make decisions consistent with these principles should receive the encouragement, approval and support of their organisation.
RPO’s should then be reminded of further reading in this area
To conclude the session the lecturer will read out the following quote from the COP APP:
“The model has at its centre the Code of Ethics (Ethical policing principles & Guidance for ethical and professional behaviour in policing)
As the touchstone for all decision making. Using the model encourages officers and staff to act in accordance with the Code (Ethical policing principles & Guidance for ethical and professional behaviour in policing) and use their discretion where appropriate. It also reduces risk aversion and weighs the balance of resourcing against demand, threat and risk.
Decision makers will receive the support of their organisation in instances where it can be shown that their decisions were assessed and managed reasonably in the circumstances existing at the time. This support applies even where harm results from those decisions and actions”.
College of Policing - National decision model
The trainer will then say:
Therefore, you are empowered to use your decision making and discretion where appropriate.