Drugged Driving Arrests Spike in Olmsted County Amid New MN Law

Rochester, MN (KROC-AM News)- Olmsted County is seeing a spike in drugged driving arrests to start off the year.

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That’s according to data released by the Olmsted County Sheriff’s Office. The drugged driving arrests are fueling a large increase in arrests for impaired driving throughout the county through the first nearly six months of 2024.

In the Olmsted County Sheriff’s Office’s monthly newsletter, Towards Zero Death Coordinator Michelle Ness says impaired driving arrests in Olmsted County have increased since Minnesota’s new cannabis law allowing Minnesotans to possess marijuana for recreational use took effect on August 1 of last year.

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Deputies have arrested 81 motorists on suspicion of impaired driving from the start of the year through June 15. That’s up from 54 arrests made during the same time frame in 2023, 46 in 2022 and 44 in 2021.

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26 of those 81 arrests were for suspected drug impairment, which is up from four a year ago and two in 2022, according to data from the sheriff’s office.

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Arrests in which motorists were suspected of driving under the influence of a combination of drugs and alcohol are up from 0 during that time period last year to six this year, according to the newsletter.

Deputies have responded to 12 crashes suspected to have been caused by drug and/or alcohol impairment this year. That’s down from 15 during the first nearly six months of 2023, the newsletter says.

Alcohol-only impaired driving arrest from Jan.1 through June 15 this year is at 49, down one from the same time span last year. The data cited in the newsletter does not indicate marijuana is the only drug involved in the drugged driving arrest spike.

Olmsted County Sheriff's Office newsletter.

“Impairment is impairment. If you feel different, you drive different. Attitudes towards cannabis use has changed and comments have been made that people driving high are not a danger,” Rossman writes.