Drug-impaired driving arrests in Olmsted County increase by 700% after Minnesota legalizes marijuana
Drug-Impaired Driving Arrests Surge in Olmsted County Following Cannabis Legalization.
he sheriff's office recorded four drug-impaired driving arrests in 2023. This year, there have been 32.
In the first six months of 2023, the Olmsted County Sheriff’s Office recorded four drug-impaired driving arrests.
This year, it has recorded 32.
This significant increase of drug-impaired driving arrests wasn’t a surprise after Minnesota became the 23rd state to legalize recreational marijuana last August , said Olmsted County Sheriff Kevin Torgerson.
“We knew that we would see more, but we didn’t know how many,” Torgerson said.
Although it’s too early to see a trend in Minnesota, serious injury crashes and fatality rates increased in states where cannabis was legalized, according to the OCSO’s monthly newsletter.
For the first six months of 2023, there were 54 total impaired driving arrests: 50 involved only alcohol, four involved only drugs and none involved a combination of drugs and alcohol.
During the first six months of 2024, there were 81 arrests made for impaired driving: 49 involved alcohol only, 26 involved drugs only and six involved both drugs and alcohol.
“Whether or not it’s a trend we’re only seeing here in Olmsted County and out in the rural areas, I don’t know yet,” Torgerson said. “But I suspect that that’s not true.”
Torgerson said it’s important to note that OCSO’s patrol area doesn’t include Rochester, which has a population nearly three times the size of the rest of the county.
Though it’s not a separate statistic, Torgerson said the department has also seen an increase in poly-drug driving arrests, meaning the driver tested positive for more than one substance while driving. Recently, OCSO received test results back for a driver who had cocaine, methamphetamine and marijuana in their system, he said.
But is driving high the same as driving drunk?
“Impairment is impairment,” Olmsted County’s Toward Zero Deaths Coordinator Michelle Ness wrote in the newsletter.
The signs of a high driver are the same as those of a drunk driver, Torgerson said.
Those signs include someone weaving in and out of lanes, traveling significantly slower than the posted speed limit, stopping too far from a stoplight or stop sign, or sitting at a stoplight or stop sign too long.
“The deputies are looking for the same behaviors,” Torgerson said. “It’s all the same.”
Torgerson said just because marijuana is legal to use doesn’t mean it’s legal to drive under the influence of it or have it opened in the passenger area of a vehicle — drugs follow the same open container policies as alcohol.
“Once you rip that open, it’s an open container,” Torgerson said.
According to the Minnesota Office of Traffic Safety, drivers and passengers cannot have any open cannabis packaging or unsealed containers of marijuana unless they are kept in the trunk of a car or another area where they are inaccessible to drivers and passengers.
In many of the reports filed for the arrests, Torgerson said deputies noted the drivers told them they were smoking at a friend's house or had a joint a few minutes prior to the stop.
“Just like alcohol, you can’t have it in your car,” Torgerson said. “You can’t have it open, you can’t be using it while you're driving. It’s a hard way to be educated — getting arrested for driving while impaired.”
