Alain Verstraete

Alain Verstraete studied medicine at Ghent University, Belgium. He specialized in Clinical Biology and in vitro Nuclear Medicine at Ghent University Hospital. Since 1985 he has been responsible for the Toxicology Laboratory of Ghent University Hospital. Since 2002, he is a part-time professor at the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences of Ghent University.

He is vice-president of the Belgian Society of Clinical Biology and of the Toxicological Society of Belgium and Luxembourg. He is also secretary of the International Association of Forensic Toxicologists. He is webmaster of the International Association for Therapeutic drug monitoring and clinical toxicology (IATDMCT) and board member of the European Workplace Drug Testing Society (EWDTS). He is also a member of the International council on alcohol, drugs and traffic safety (ICADTS).

In 1995 and 1996 he was the coordinator for the toxicology laboratories in the Belgian Toxicology and Trauma Study (BTTS). In 1997-1999 he was advisor to the Belgian Federal Secretary of State for Security Jan Peeters for the drafting of the legislation on drugs and driving. He received the 2002 Haddon Award in recognition for successfully advocating scientifically based changes to public policy to reduce the effects of alcohol and drugs on traffic safety. He received the 2002 TIAFT award for excellence. In 2005, he received the Grand Prix de la SFTA from the French Society of Analytical Toxicology.

He coordinated the Rosita (Roadside Testing assessment) and Rosita-2 studies on roadside drug testing. He is president of the working group on alcohol, drugs, medicines and driving of Directorate General TREN (Energy and transport) of the European Commission. Since 2006 he participates in the EU-funded DRUID (Driving under the influence of drugs, medicines and alcohol) project, where he is responsible for the toxicology issues.

He is a member of the editorial board of Acta Clinica Belgica, Journal of Analytical Toxicology, Traffic Injury Prevention and adjunct editor in chief of Annales de toxicologie analytique.

Links:

Thematic page on drugs and driving from the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction, with links to the major European resources on Drugs and Driving

An overview of the DUID legislation in Europe.

EMCDDA selected issue on drugs and driving - This Selected issue on ‘Drugs and driving’ focuses on driving after taking cannabis and benzodiazepines. Country responses were analysed to determine the prevalence of these substances among drivers and studied in the context of policy and legislation, law enforcement and prevention.

Drug use, impaired driving and traffic accidents - This literature review provides a comprehensive report on the relationship between drug use, impaired driving and traffic accidents. It covers methodological issues, presents results of prevalence surveys among drivers and provides an overview of findings from major international epidemiological surveys published since 1999. The report also gathers evidence from experimental and field studies of the relationship between drug use, driving impairment and traffic accidents

DRUID project website

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