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CorrectionCC BY V4.0, Open Access
Journal article
Are Current Drug Driving Enforcement Strategies Achieving the Desired Effect? Drug Users' Perceptions of Drug Driving Legislation and Enforcement in Queensland
Journal of Police and Criminal Psychology, Vol.39, pp.1-14
2024
Appears in UniSC Supported Open Access Outputs
Abstract
This study examined how illicit drug users perceived roadside drug testing (RDT) in Queensland, a jurisdiction that enforces a zero-tolerance enforcement strategy to drug driving. Fifty-two illicit drug users were interviewed, and thematic analysis was used to identify emerging themes. The results showed that exposure to RDT and apprehension certainty were reportedly low. The targeted regime of RDT had dichotomous implications towards apprehension certainty, due to the familiarity with the testing procedures. Participants also reported mixed experiences with testing accuracy, in that some offenders reported testing negative just following use, while others who reportedly regulated their driving tested positive, despite not having recently used. Next, participants reported engaging in punishment avoidance behaviours that aimed to evade police exposure and suspicion, and to mask the presence of drugs in their saliva. The combination of avoidance behaviours and perceptions of one's ability to circumnavigate RDT impacted on participants' apprehension certainty. Due to their experiences, the majority of (cannabis) users agreed that RDT approaches were discriminatory and unjust, due to the zero-tolerance policy, the testing of presence over impairment, and the lack of policing towards other drugs. These perceived limitations were noted to potentially increase user offending in some circumstances and suggested that there may be a dissonance between the intended aim of RDT and the outcome on drug user behaviours. The findings of this study may hold implications for future research in identifying limitations in the current evidence and help inform policing procedures and policy surrounding future drug testing approaches.
Details
- Title
- Are Current Drug Driving Enforcement Strategies Achieving the Desired Effect? Drug Users' Perceptions of Drug Driving Legislation and Enforcement in Queensland
- Authors
- Steven Love (Corresponding Author) - University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Road Safety Research CollaborationBevan Rowland (Author) - University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Road Safety Research CollaborationKayla Stefanidis (Author) - University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Road Safety Research CollaborationJeremy Davey (Author) - University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Road Safety Research Collaboration
- Publication details
- Journal of Police and Criminal Psychology, Vol.39, pp.1-14
- Publisher
- Springer New York LLC
- Date published
- 2024
- DOI
- 10.1007/s11896-022-09542-6
- ISSN
- 1936-6469; 0882-0783
- Copyright note
- This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
- Organisation Unit
- Road Safety Research Collaboration; University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland; School of Law and Society
- Language
- English
- Record Identifier
- 99662998902621
- Output Type
- Journal article
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