Shi Jie (China Youth Daily): Drugs do all kinds of harm to addicts, but driving under the influence puts innocent victims at risk as well. It's necessary to intervene with drug driving through appropriate legal action. Moreover, as drunk driving and drag racing have already been covered in the Criminal Law, there is already a frame of reference to punish drug driving.

Ling Ran (www.auto.sohu.com): After drunk driving was covered in the Criminal Law, alcohol-related accidents sharply decreased. Drivers are finally held accountable when caught taking drinks before going onto the road. Alcohol paralyzes drivers' nerves and causes them to lose control. Drugs, in any sense, will exert an even more serious impact on drivers than alcohol. Since drunk driving is already classified as a violation of the law, why isn't drug driving included? Please don't delay in putting even stricter controls into place against drug driving.

A major concern is that drug driving may not be so easily discovered or tested. Thus, we need more professional means and techniques as the basis to support the legal punishment of drug driving. Meanwhile, a series of prevention and accountability mechanisms should also play a role in covering drug driving in the Criminal Law.

Consideration needed

Feng Xie (blog.sina.com.cn): Even though drug driving is more dangerous than drunk driving, we still need to think carefully before making drug driving a crime.

It's undeniable that illegal drug use affects drivers' judgment by making them overly excited and even causing hallucinations, but seven categories of legitimate medicine can also exert a hypnotic effect. The World Health Organization has long made explicit regulations banning driving after people take these medications. Certain diseases also affect drivers' ability to operate vehicles. There is no lack of traffic accidents due to drivers taking medications or suffering from certain diseases. If drug driving is to be covered in the Criminal Law, does it mean that the other two cases will also be covered?

We still need to wait and see whether drug driving will become a major problem in society in the near future. To test whether drivers have taken drugs, the techniques required are much more complicated than those involved in drunk driving, including blood and urine tests.

There are many ways to discourage drug driving. For example, it's important for government departments to have drug addicts' information and to delay or even deprive them of acquiring driving licenses. This kind of prevention can be more effective than punishing the drivers with Criminal Laws after accidents have already happened.

Huang Jianping (www.gmw.cn): The inclusion of drug driving in the Criminal Law is a matter of time. However, before making the decision, research and careful analysis are necessary.

drug driving does cause danger to the safety of people and society, but not all harmful things are suitable to be punished by the Criminal Law. Whether to punish certain behaviors with the Criminal Law depends on the extent of the damage. As the last defending line to ensure social safety and coordinate social relations, the Criminal Law should not be abused. If a problem can be solved through civil and administrative ways, it's better not to turn to the Criminal Law. When drunk driving was first treated as a crime, there were heated debates in society. In contrast, the probability of drug driving is much lower than drunk driving and also the harm to society is not so serious.

It's improper to include all drivers who have taken drugs in criminal punishment. How can you tell a driver is reduced to wandering because of taking drugs? There must be a fixed measurement.

At present, judging whether someone has taken drugs and how much he or she has taken requires a urine test. To do this, there must be a designated space to collect urine, as well as technical equipment and staff. However, the current technical conditions are not good enough to support the inspection. The priority is to develop convenient and effective testing equipment and techniques before drug driving is labeled as a criminal behavior.

We support the idea that behaviors that have caused serious harm to society should be punished with the Criminal Law, but before the punishment is practiced, there must be careful research and analysis and also supportive techniques.

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