The accused was charged with impaired driving by drugs.
Prior to trial, the defence raised two Charter issues: (1) whether the toxicologist's testing of bodily fluids for a broad range of drugs violated section 8 Charter rights when the Drug Recognition Evaluator had only identified narcotic analgesics as the suspected impairing substance, and (2) whether the DRE tests lacked scientific basis and thus violated section 7 Charter rights, rendering the tests and evidence inadmissible.
The court rejected both arguments, finding that the legislation does not limit toxicological testing to the specific drug suspected by the DRE, and that the applicant failed to meet the burden of establishing on a balance of probabilities that the 12-step DRE evaluation lacks scientific support.
