North Dakota unveils new weapon against drugged driving

Drivers under the influence of drugs have long been a problem that’s only getting worse with the increasing legalization of pot. But how to test drivers for drugs and obtain reliable results that hold up in court has also been a long-standing problem for law enforcement–until now.

After successfully field testing a mobile screening device for drugs for a year and a half, the North Dakota Highway Patrol soon plans to begin equipping troopers with the units that KFYR-TV says use a driver’s saliva to determine toxicity.

“It’s a good idea to be able to move with technology and to be able to provide officers with a different device that will assist them with drug impairment,” said Tarek Chase with North Dakota Highway Patrol.

The Highway Patrol ran a pilot program with the device from January 2022 to July 2023. In 83% of the cases, the device indicated one drug was present, with marijuana being the drug identified 51% of the time. Each time officers had to ask for the driver’s consent and the results were compared with blood results from state toxicology.

“It was very promising with the accuracy with the device as compared to toxicology testing with blood results,” said Chase.

The drug detector, SoToxa, can identify the presence of a range of drugs, such as methamphetamine, amphetamines, opiates, cocaine and marijuana. The breakthrough in technology means some 40 North Dakota law enforcement agencies will be trained on and deploy the mobile drug screening devices.

“Multiple officers can be trained on one device, so then we can have other officers be able to utilize it if it’s shift work or something like that,” said Chase.

Right now each agency will receive one device. Depending on how well the program goes and if demand increases, Highway Patrol said funding will be set aside to get more devices.

Officers are still required to do field sobriety tests on someone they think is under the influence of drugs. Trooper Chase said the new tool just helps them confirm it.

The pilot program pointed to another trend in drugged driving. Nearly half of the samples in the trial phase found the presence of two or more drugs in the driver’s system.