On the nation's highways, drugged driving poses a danger on the scale of the better-known problem of drunk driving:

• Conservative estimates show that 20% of crashes in the U.S. are caused by drugged driving. This translates into about 6,761 deaths, 440,000 injuries and $59.9 billion in costs each year.
• In a national survey, drugs were present more than 7 times as frequently as alcohol among weekend nighttime drivers in the U.S., with 16% testing positive for drugs, compared to 2% testing at or above the legal limit for alcohol.
• Young drivers are particularly at risk for being impacted by drugged driving as supported by data on youth behaviors. Monitoring the Future showed that 30% of high school seniors had driven impaired or had been a passenger of an impaired driver in the two weeks prior to being surveyed. Nearly one quarter (23.2%) of high school seniors said they drove or rode with a driver after he or she used marijuana while 15.8% said they drove or rode with someone after having five or more drinks.
• Effective drugged driving prevention is one of the best ways to improve highway safety, to reduce illegal drug use and to get more drug abusers into addiction treatment.

For the first time, the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) has named drugged driving as a priority issue, calling for more research and stronger policies to reduce rates of drugged driving.

Read IBH's Public Policy Statement on Drugged Driving.

Visit IBH's website Stop Drugged Driving.