New on-water drug test blitz sweeps Gold Coast skippers

Queensland Police has put boat owners on notice after a number of skippers on the Gold Coast were detected with drugs in their system at the weekend.

Gold Coast Water Police said random testing over last week's show day long weekend resulted in a number of alleged drug-affected boat operators detected.

Gold Coast Water Police Senior Sergeant Jay Notaro said it was disappointing to see people with traces of drugs in their system operating vessels.

“To think they are putting not only their own lives at risk, but the lives of those families enjoying our waterways is of a concern,” Sen Sgt Notaro said.

“The Gold Coast Water Police will continue to target drug drivers and make the waterways a safer place for everyone.”

Sen Sgt Notaro said equipment fitted to its larger craft now allowed Water Police to proactively test for drugs rather than test for their presence after an on-water incident.

“We’ve got the instruments there now so that we can do a secondary type test,” he said. “We do the preliminary test which is like a tongue scraping, and that then gives an indication … if we get someone who indicates a positive reading, then we take them to the second, bigger boat for a secondary reading.”

He said the initial tests were conducted via “a number of RIBs” feeding skippers who returned a positive initial test to the secondary boat for another round of testing.

Water Police declined to say how many boat operators were scooped up in the blitz, although Sen Sgt Notaro said the on-water testing had returned “a number” of positive test results.

“We had a bit of a mix of under the influence of amphetamines and cannabis,” he said. “Both of them are a worry, particularly the amphetamines.

“We’ll be continuing it [testing] on a more regular basis."

The penalties for operating a boat under the influence of drugs are very similar to those levelled against drivers caught behind the wheel of a car.

Sen Sgt Notaro said a boat operator’s behaviour on the road could also influence what penalties skippers faced if they were detected with drugs in their system – including the possibility that they could be jailed.

“The penalties are very similar to those for the road, so it’s ordinarily a monetary fine and a disqualification period for their licence," he said. “That [the size of the fine and length of disqualification] really depends on a person’s traffic history in regards to the size of that disqualification and monetary fine.

“People with more of a lengthy history could possibly be getting some form of imprisonment, but they’re for those more recidivist offenders.”