Submitted by: IACP Drug Recognition Expert Technical Advisory Panel (TAP) 

WHEREAS, the International Association of Chiefs of Police (“IACP”) recognizes that drug-impaired driving constitutes a significant roadway safety problem; and 

WHEREAS, there is limited awareness that drugged drivers are less frequently detected, prosecuted, or referred to treatment when compared with alcohol impaired drivers; and 

WHEREAS, according to reports such as the U.S 2022 National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH), 13.6 million people drove under the influence of drugs in the U.S. (1); and the Canadian 2020 Police-Reported Crime Statistics show a 15.6% increase from 2019 to 2021 in the number of police reported drug-driving incidents (5); and

WHEREAS, an analysis of impaired driving laws indicates there is a lack of uniformity or consistency in how jurisdictions/political subdivisions deal with drugged drivers (2); and

WHEREAS, there is a need for national leadership in the U.S. and Canada to develop model statutes and to encourage jurisdictions to modify their laws to be more effective when dealing with impairing substances and/or drugs; and

WHEREAS, impaired driving data should differentiate between drugged driving and alcohol-impaired driving to better understand the impact of drugged driving, and

WHEREAS, traffic fatalities involving polysubstance use involving two or more impairing drugs in combination, with cannabis and alcohol being the most common combination, and which doubled from 2000 to 2018 in the U.S. (3); and

WHEREAS, according to the IACP Drug Recognition Expert (DRE) annual reports, from 2018 to 2022, approximately 41 percent of all drug influence evaluations conducted by DREs in the United States and Canada involved multiple drugs and/or substances (4); and 

WHEREAS, incidents of impaired driving involving impairing drugs combined with alcohol are up to 200 times more likely to cause a crash (5) and should therefore result in additional sanctions; be it

RESOLVED, that the IACP recommends all states, provinces, and territories adopt impaired driving laws to include any impairing substance and/or impairing drug and enact laws that create additional sanctions when a combination of impairing drugs and alcohol are involved in impaired driving incidents; and be it

FURTHER RESOLVED that the IACP recommends all states, provinces, and territories support and encourage prosecutors to vigorously prosecute all offenders violating impaired driving laws including those offenses involving impairing substances and/or impairing drugs and any offenses when a combination of impairing drugs and alcohol are involved. 

1. NSDUH, https://www.samhsa.gov/data/report/2020-nsduh-detailed-tables
2. NHTSA, “2016 Digest of State Laws: Driving Under the Influence of Drugs”, DOT HS 812 468, Mar 2016
3. NHTSA, “Drug Impaired Driving”, https://www.nhtsa.gov/risky-driving/drug-impaired 
4. IACP DRE Annual Reports, 2018 – 2022
5. Public Safety Canada, “Annual National Data Report to Inform Trends and Patterns in Drug-Impaired Driving”, 2022