Detection is not prevention: will drug testing drivers really make NZ roads safer?

Joseph M Boden

doi:10.64628/ABW.xhq7h6qmp

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Detection is not prevention: will drug testing drivers really make NZ roads safer?

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Detection is not prevention: will drug testing drivers really make NZ roads safer?

Joseph M Boden

The Conversation

14/11/2025

DOI: https://doi.org/10.64628/ABW.xhq7h6qmp

Handle:

https://hdl.handle.net/10523/49266

Abstract

crime prevention

drug driving

drug testing

drug harm reduction

road policing

New Zealand

roadside sobriety tests

In November 2025, New Zealand Police begin to rollout roadside drug testing of drivers under new laws passed by the Government earlier this year; but Professor Joseph Boden of the University of Otago warns that a test which measures presence rather than impairment risks confusing detection with prevention, and may do little to make New Zealand’s roads any safer.

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Record Identifier: 9926820409601891
Title: Detection is not prevention: will drug testing drivers really make NZ roads safer?
Creators: Joseph M Boden
Publication Details: The Conversation
Academic Unit: Psychological Medicine (UOC)
Publisher: The Conversation Media Group Ltd
Date published ; e-published: 14/11/2025
Comment: The published version is not available in full-text in OUR Archive. Where available, a link to the published version is provided (check the DOI and/or the Files and links section). The full-text item may be open access on the publisher's website. An earlier version of the work (such as authors' accepted manuscript following peer-review or unreviewed preprint/author's original version) may be available in the Files and links section of this record. Alternatively, readers may have subscription access to the full-text from the publisher.
Language: English
Resource Type ; Subtype: Magazine article