The Executive Yuan on Thursday approved draft amendments to Articles 33 and 36 of the Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act, as well as to the Road Traffic Management and Penalty Act, aimed at combating drug-impaired driving. The proposed amendments will now be submitted to the Legislative Yuan for deliberation.
Premier Cho Jung-tai said that, in light of a recent spate of incidents linked to emerging drugs such as etomidate, the Executive Yuan introduced a set of measures focused on three policy fronts—deterrence at the source, increased enforcement, and tougher penalties for drug-impaired driving—to strengthen drug enforcement and prevent drug-impaired driving. The government is now taking further steps to refine the supporting legal framework.
Premier Cho noted that the Ministry of Justice has already upgraded etomidate from a Category 2 to a Category 1 narcotic, under which its manufacture, transportation and sale carry a maximum penalty of death. He said that the key proposed change to the Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act is the introduction of saliva-based drug screening, expanding the tools available to frontline law enforcement officers. As for the Road Traffic Management and Penalty Act, the amendments aim to increase penalties for drug-impaired driving and high-risk repeat offenders, and to establish a preventive mechanism for revoking the driver's licenses of drug users.