MORE than 13 drivers affected by drugs in the lead-up to the Mount Isa Rodeo weekend were caught in a drug-testing unit operation.
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Eleven of those drivers lived in Mount Isa, according to Brisbane-based Senior Constable Richard Leonars, who was sent to the North West to conduct the operation.
The high portion of Mount Isa-based drivers brings into question where the drug supply is coming from, with Senior Constable Leonars speculating the supply was Mount Isa-based, given the 900-kilometre distance from Townsville.
However, a Brisbane-based forensic laboratory could determine which locations the tested drugs had come from.
He said half the caught drivers were using methamphetamines, some of them also combining the stimulant drug with cannabis.
Cannabis was a depressant but the combination did not cancel each other out, instead causing a great impairment of the brain, Senior Constable Leonars said.
Affected drivers were reckless on the road, such as with lane changing and had difficulty gauging distances.
The drug-testing unit travels throughout Queensland in preparation for large-scale events that draw in the crowds, such as the Mount Isa Rodeo.
It was no revelation that methamphetamine addiction was rampant throughout Australia. However, Senior Constable Leonars observed the purity of methamphetamines at street level had quadrupled recently.
‘‘A person was taking about four to 8per cent – now we are talking up to 18 to 20 per cent,’’ he said.
Senior Constable Leonars said drug dealers also used ‘‘cutters’’ to dilute the purity, and they used whatever they could find.
He gave bath salts and rat poison as examples.
‘‘No one is a winner in the drug trade except the drug dealers, because they are making tax-free money,’’ he said.
A difference between drug and drink driving was that it was easier to detect the amount of alcohol being consumed over a period of time due to percentages revealed on the bottles.
Drugs stayed in the blood system for days, which could be detected in tests, but as with alcohol there was a limit where police would let the user go if the content was under the amount.
The limit was not disclosed to the public, partly because it could encourage people to use banned substances if they knew what the limit was, Senior Constable Leonars said.
