The Queen's speech at the State Opening of Parliament has detailed the proposed law against driving under the influence of drugs.
Under the new legislation, it will become automatically illegal to drive a car if you have more than a specified limit of a controlled drug in your body. Presently, the Police have to prove that driving has been impaired by drug use in order to make a prosecution.
The penalty for driving under the influence of drugs will be a maximum of six months imprisonment and/or a fine of up to £5,000. Offenders will also have their driving licence taken away for a minimum of twelve months.
A device to measure the amount of a drug in the body - the so-called 'drugalyser' - is expected to have received approval from the Home Office by the end of 2012.
Conservative MP and Road Safety Minister Mike Penning said, "Drug drivers are a deadly menace - they must be stopped and that is exactly what I intend to do. We have an enviable record on road safety in this country and I want to keep it that way. This measure will help to rid our roads of the irresponsible minority who risk the lives of innocent motorists and pedestrians."
However, the measures have come under scrutiny from the Institute of Advanced Motorists. IAM chief executive Simon Best said, "While we support the introduction of the drugalyser test and this offence, it needs to be backed up by some measure of impairment. Without this, the test could simply catch those people who have used drugs at some point, but are not necessarily still impaired by them."
