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When was the last time you were pulled over for a random drug test? Well recently in Queensland, cocaine has been added to drugs tested roadside. This is because shocking numbers revealed drug users were involved in approximately 20% of lives lost on Queensland roads between 2018 and 2022. These statistics just prove that with these increasing numbers of fatalities involving cocaine and how alarming it is that the Queensland government must put a stop to it. Good morning, I am Emily Hinspeter and we must absolutely support this change to protect the lives of Australians. I 100% agree with the change to include cocaine into random roadside drug tests as it will save lives and protect the lives of others. I, along with many others here today, do not want to be spending extended hours in the hospital after some careless driver has put my life at risk. I personally couldn't think of anything much worse. New South Wales has made the move so why haven't we? Now some of us may think of cocaine as a dangerous drug and some have no opinion but the simple facts are that cocaine use is rising across the whole of Queensland and The Courier Mail only has facts to back this up. Research was done on the involvement that cocaine had in fatal crashes, rising from 4.3% in 2017-2018 to 6.1% in 2020-2022. On top of this, users being found with cocaine in their system and causing serious injury rose from 3.6% (2018-2019) to 7.1% (2020-21). We are not safe on the roads with appalling and concerning statistics like these. Theses statistics speak a million words as it reflects the foolish decisions that drug users have made. More and more drug users are being involved in road incidents and it simply isn't good enough. Through these statistics we begin to understand how serious cocaine involved crashes are and how quickly the use of cocaine is rising in Queensland. It simply isn't good enough. Cocaine use in Queensland is rising and we must put a stop to it. Cocaine is a serious drug that when you are driving with it in your system it can be deadly and it has potential to harm others this is why it must be added to the drugs tested roadside. This was the case when Abbey Sheriff was travelling to her friends house on the Baldivis freeway in Western Australia around midnight on January the 11th 202, when Evie Butterworth who was under the influence of drugs clipped the back of Abbey's car, which resulted in a rollover crash where she suffered critical injuries and died on the scene that night. Juile (Abbey mum) voiced her opinion on the night of the crash and how she will “never going to heal from this”, "I'll never be the same” and “words cannot describe how I feel without you”. I can only imagine the wave of emotions she was feeling. Julie supports the implementation of roadside drug testing as she clearly expressed through her anger, loneliness, fear and grief to anxiety, shame, guilt and frustration of losing her only daughter. I myself could not imagine being in this position whether I'm a brother/sister, partent, cousin or even a best mate. Stories like these make me want to put a stop to the use of drugs altogether by making sure that roadside testing is implemented all throughout Queensland. NSW has had it since 2018, what took us so long to get it? Incompetence again. This is the opinion of Andrew, a reader of the Courier Mail shared his thoughts on this issue. His opinion along with many other Queenslanders has finally been heard. A study was conducted between the years 2000 to 2022 by Illicit Drug Reporting System where they found Queenslander has been on an upwards trend of use of cocaine. Illicit Drug Reporting System found that in 2018 9% had used cocaine compared to 2022 with 17% with a high in those 5 years of 19% but yet they have only decided to do something now. Why have they waited so long when the numbers have been rising the whole time? New South Wales on the other hand has been testing cocaine roadside for more than 5 years now and they have evidence of it working. In 2018 New South Wales had a spike in the use of cocaine and they actually decided to do something about it. The same study on the use of cocaine was done in New South Wales where they found that the use of cocaine had dropped since they added cocaine to roadside drug testing. In 2018 New South Wales use of cocaine dropped from 27% to 16% in 2022 with a low of 15% in those 5 years. These statistics definitely support the perspective that users in NSW are now less likely to use cocaine as they now know that it is a drug that is tested regularly by police. With the success that New South Wales has had, why haven't we implemented cocaine into roadside testing sooner? We can't continue on a trajectory like this with increasing cocaine use throughout Queensland, knowing what the positives are and knowing that these tests are working but yet we are doing nothing about it. We can't continue as a state like this. We can't continue to be bystanders and watch road accidents increase year by year. We must support this change as the rate of loss of life is increasing when driving with cocaine in your system is alarming and the Queensland government is putting a stop to it. If we don't support the change Queensland could see cocaine involved accidents to continue to increase. By starting this process now we are creating a better world for generations to come rather than in 20 years when the use of cocaine is out of control. Queenslanders just want to be safe on the roads.