More Taser questions

Those who may be uncooperative enough that law-enforcement officers might think about using a Taser had better not be under the influence of illegal drugs and expect to live to tell about it.

A Post study has demonstrated, if not cause and effect, a link between the 50,000-volt dart-firing stun guns and drug-influenced suspects' deaths. Of Florida's nation-leading 27 of 132 fatalities following shocks from a police Taser, at least 20 people were found to have had heart-damaging amphetamines or cocaine in their systems.

More study of the stun-guns' effect is a must, given that at least 17 of the people who died in Taser-associated fatalities also had heart or mental ailments. For now, the involuntary muscle contractions and temporary paralysis that the Taser inflicts leave in question Taser International's claim that the weapon doesn't affect the heart and is "generally safe." In contrast, a Chicago medical examiner last month became the nation's first to cite Taser shocks as the primary cause of a death. Other medical examiners have cited the weapon as a contributing factor in at least three deaths in Florida and elsewhere.

Better Taser-use policies, too, are a must. At least 17 of Florida's fatalities involved multiple shocks. But The Post also found that at least one in four of 1,000 Taser uses by local agencies over four years was on someone who posed no apparent threat. The problems prompted Palm Beach County police chiefs to move quickly to establish countywide Taser-use guidelines. Boca Raton Police Chief Andrew Scott, who led the committee that crafted the local guidelines, makes sense in saying that the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and the state's Criminal Justice Standards and Training Commission should draw up those statewide standards.

Chief Scott agrees that there "is going to be a need for additional medical study and research, particularly when drugs are on board." There's also a need to resolve questions of whether Taser International misled law enforcement, overstating safety claims and ignoring known concerns. While the Securities and Exchange Commission looks into those questions, the improved professional training and standards should apply. Those questions also are out there for civilians to whom the manufacturer now is marketing the Taser.