Proposal would expand DWI to include drugs

A new law being developed by local and state officials is taking aim at drivers who get behind the wheel with any amount of a controlled substance in their system.

Unlike existing DWI laws, which limit the amount of alcohol drivers can have in their systems, the proposed statute will make it a crime for drivers to have any amount of a nonprescribed drug in their systems.

If passed into law, first-time offenders will be charged with a misdemeanor, carrying a maximum penalty of up to six months jail in and a $500 fine.

Drafted by Cape Girardeau County Prosecuting Attorney Morley Swingle, the proposal will also make it easier to prosecute offenders.

The new law would allow police officers to test drivers for drugs and use those results as evidence in court, saving the state the expense of toxicology reports or testimony from toxicologists in its prosecution of offenders, Swingle said.

Sen. Jason Crowell, R-Cape Girardeau, said he asked for Swingle's help in drafting the proposal in October. If Crowell's final draft of the bill is approved by the House and Senate, Crowell said, it could be signed into law by Gov. Matt Blunt before 2008.

Crowell said he approached Swingle because of the disparity in the legal system that prosecuted drunken drivers but not drivers with controlled substances in their systems.

Rep. Scott Lipke, R-Jackson, has also been involved creating in the proposed statute, Swingle said.

Crowell, Swingle and Lipke want Missouri to join 16 other states in what are known as "per se" laws where drivers are prohibited from having nonprescribed drugs in their systems.

When the laws have been challenged, Swingle said, state Supreme Courts have upheld them as constitutional. He said he doesn't expect that the Missouri Supreme Court would rule differently.

Swingle said he modeled Missouri's proposal after the law in Iowa, which has one of the toughest laws to date.

While some states chose to exempt marijuana as one of the prohibited controlled substances due to the length of time it can stay in one's system, Swingle included it on the grounds it is illegal to use at all.

"Every toxicologist I have talked to has said it would be better to use the language barring driving with any controlled substance in the body, as done by this draft," Swingle said. "They warn that an attempt to list the drugs by name would produce many loopholes and future headaches."

Swingle still thinks there is room for improvement on the DWI front and would like to see some loopholes closed.

When David D. Hull, 45, of Thebes, Ill., was convicted in 1986 for reckless homicide in Alexander County, Swingle said that the nature of the charge didn't reflect that Hull was driving under the influence of alcohol. So when Hull was caught driving while under the influence of alcohol and with a revoked driver's license in Cape Girardeau County in 2000, the state could not automatically increase the charges to those of felony as they could have with a DWI conviction, he said.

Hull ended up serving 90 days in Cape Girardeau County Jail, Swingle said, but it could have been a much stiffer sentence.

"That is a loophole that needs to be fixed," Swingle said.

carel@semissourian.com

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