Report Summary
This report provides members of the Forensic Services Committee with an overview of the Drug Driving Update.
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Meeting
The publication discussed was referenced in the meeting below
Forensic Services Committee - 7 August 2025
Date : 07 August 2025
Location : Online
Background
In October 2019, Section 5A of the Road Traffic Act 1988 came into force in Scotland. This legislation set out a specific offence of driving with a specified controlled drug above a prescribed limit. In addition, Section 4 of the Road Traffic Act sets out an offence of driving while impaired or unfit to drive. Section 4 offences are significantly more difficult to prove in court for a range of reasons including the subjectivity of the roadside field impairment test.
Within legislation, and since the COVID Pandemic, a temporary statutory time limit (STL) of 12 months was introduced. The STL returned to six months on 30 November 2024.
SPA Forensic Services (FS) and Police Scotland (PS) have on a monthly basis, an agreed capacity for the submission of drug driving samples which, forecasts a demand of 250 cases per month, stretching to 270 when required. Note: additional planning, relative to additional outsourcing requirements, is undertaken for specific PSoS campaigns.
