Drug Per Se Laws: A Review of Their Use in States

Abstract

This report summarizes a study of the implementation of drug per se laws in 15 States. These laws generally make it an impaired-driving offense to drive with a measurable amount of certain drugs in one's system. The specific prohibited drugs vary by State. The laws are generally integrated into the States' overall impaired-driving statute. Though all 15 States were studied to some degree, deeper study of the process was conducted in 6 States. This involved discussions with government officials and law enforcement officers, and a series of structured discussions with prosecutors. This study was not an impact evaluation of drug per se laws on crashes, but rather an attempt to gain an understanding of how the drug per se laws are implemented and perceptions about the law of those charged with implementing the law. It was initially intended that the study would also assess the effect of passing driving under the influence of drugs (DUID) per se laws on the volume of DUID arrests and on conviction patterns, but data to directly address those issues were not available. A general consensus among law enforcement officers we held discussions with was the adoption of drug per se laws did not necessarily make enforcement easier, but did have a positive effect on prosecution. This general perception was shared by prosecutors we interviewed. Because the drug per se laws have typically been adopted as a component of States' impaired-driving statutes, one difficulty of this study was obtaining accurate data on volume of arrests and conviction rates for the DUID component of the impaired-driving law was problematic. Recommendations include developing a procedure where impaired-driving citations indicate drugs, alcohol, or both, but also adopting procedures ensure information is integrated into computerized data systems of both law enforcement agencies and courts. Executive SummaryThis report provides the results of a study of driving under the influence of drugs (DUID) laws and how they have been implemented in the United States. The primary focus of the study was to assess the effects of adopting drugged driving per se laws. The basic approach was through document reviews, telephone conversations, and site visits to learn about implementation procedures in States with different configurations of DUID laws and enforcement training, and to assess whether there were differences in arrest and disposition patterns attributable to those configurations.Drug per se laws are not quite analogous to the alcohol impaired-driving per se laws now in effect in every State make it illegal to operate a motor vehicle with a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) of .08 grams per deciliter or greater. Alcohol-impaired driving per se laws are based on evidence that all drivers are impaired at .08 BAC. Drug per se laws are more analogous to zero-tolerance laws that make it illegal to drive with certain drugs in the system.Currently, there are 15 States where it is illegal per se to operate a motor vehicle with certain drugs in one's syst...