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Land Transport Act 1998

Driving offences involving drink or drugs, and penalties and procedures - Enforcement procedures involving taking of blood specimens

73A: Purposes for which blood specimen taken under section 72 or 73 may be used as evidence

You could also call this:

“How the police can use your blood sample as evidence when driving”

This law explains how the police can use blood samples taken from you when you are driving. If the police take a blood sample from you under certain sections of the law, they can use it as evidence to show if you have alcohol or certain drugs in your system. This evidence can be used if you are charged with breaking any part of this law.

However, there are some limits on how the police can use this information. If they do an oral fluid test (like a saliva test) or take a blood sample, they can’t use the results to charge you with drug crimes under a different law called the Misuse of Drugs Act. This means that even if they find drugs in your system while testing you for driving offences, they can’t use that information to accuse you of other drug-related crimes.

Remember, this law is about making sure people drive safely and don’t use alcohol or drugs that could make driving dangerous. It’s not about catching people for other types of drug offences.

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This page was last updated on

View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM2507850.

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Part 6 Driving offences involving drink or drugs, and penalties and procedures
Enforcement procedures involving taking of blood specimens

73APurposes for which blood specimen taken under section 72 or 73 may be used as evidence

  1. Evidence of alcohol or evidence of use of any 1 or more qualifying drugs in a blood specimen taken under section 72 or 73 may be used as evidence in a prosecution for any offence under this Act (see also sections 77(2) and 77A(1), which specify presumptions for the purposes of this Act relating to drug testing and alcohol testing).

  2. Neither of the following may be used as evidence of the use of a controlled drug in a prosecution for an offence under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1975:

  3. a positive result of an oral fluid test taken under any of sections 71A to 71C:
    1. a blood specimen taken under section 72 or 73.

      Notes
      • Section 73A: replaced, on , by section 23 of the Land Transport (Drug Driving) Amendment Act 2022 (2022 No 5).