‘YOU CAN’T FOOL THE POLICE ANYMORE’

MBABANE – Drink-driving suspects should find other reasons to lie in court about the medication they had taken resulting in them being charged for exceeding the legal limit of alcohol content in the body.

Ever since police intensified their quest to discourage motorists from driving while under the influence of liquor, suspects have come up with excuses in court, blaming either medication or traditional herbs as the main cause of their higher alcohol content in the body. Some of the suspects have argued before court that they do not take liquor at all; hence they claim that they had taken only cough mixtures at the time of their arrest.

The Times Investigations Desk, together with well-trained traffic officers, has, however, put to test the medication that have been labelled in court as the reasons for  recording a high alcohol content.
It has transpired that medication containing alcohol such as cough mixtures (Benylin, Alcophyllex and DPH), Listerine mouth wash, coffee, traditional concoctions and indayela have alcohol levels that do not last more than 20 minutes in the body.  All these medication have a high alcohol content when taken.

Concentration

In Swaziland the legal limit is 0.38mg/l. Even though it seems some of the medication have high alcohol concentration, the content drops drastically within a short period of time in the body.
This, therefore, has made police to strongly oppose possibilities that most suspects were arrested because of the said medication.

Police have candidly argued that a motorist who had taken the aforementioned medication cannot be arrested and be charged for drink-driving if he had taken the medication 20 minutes before being put to a breathalyser. 
They have also argued that where a motorist claims to have taken alcohol-containing medication they allow him/her 20 minutes for the medication to stabilise.
However, tests conducted by the investigations desk have revealed that mouthwash such as Listerine could record as high as 3.9mg/l by a breathalyser. Assistant Superintendent Khulani Mamba, Police Assistant Information and Communications Officer, who had his breath test after using a mouthwash recorded 1.9mg/l.

He was re-tested after 20 minutes and the scale recorded 0.00mg/l.
Following random tests with alcohol-containing medication, it transpired that a person who had taken Benylin – a cough suppressant, could record 0.20mg/l when put to a breathalyser. Even in this medication the alcohol content normalises within 20 minutes. Two sober journalists were on Wednesday tested after they had taken Benylin and DPH – a cough mixture, and Alcophyllex.

Tests were conducted five minutes after they had taken the cough mixtures. Benylin is inscribed to be containing five per cent alcohol while Alcophyllex contains 18 per cent alcohol. DPH syrup also contains alcohol and its inscription states that patients should not drive a motor vehicle after taking this medication because it causes drowsiness. Sergeant Lihle Dlamini, who works under the Accident Prevention Department, explained that they are aware that there were medication that contained alcohol. He said in cases where traffic officers come across motorists who had taken such medication, the motorist is allowed sometime for the medication to subside. He, however, said police had their own discretion to detect if a person had taken alcohol as opposed to medication. 

“In fact, doctors and medical practitioners usually warn patients who take medication containing alcohol against driving.
Even pharmacists explain the consequences and dangers of driving after taking medication containing alcohol,” Dlamini said.

Alcolmeter

“As police officers we are aware that these medication quickly vanish in the body and the alcolmeter would record zero,” he said.
Pharmacists have confirmed that a cough mixture contains a high alcohol concentration, hence patients can record above the legal limit if put to a breathalyser. Sindi Simelane, a pharmacist, said: “All medication has prescriptions that explain the reaction of the medication in the body when taken. Again, we always advise people who buy medication from pharmacies not to drive because some medication can cause drowsiness,” Simelane explained that alcohol content in a medication does not last.   

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