Vermont officials have hired nine new drug recognition experts to help determine if a driver is impaired on something other than alcohol.
New employees will serve as part of Vermont State Police and municipal agencies, and it brings the total number of DREs in the state to 59.
The additional staffers come as the state is experiencing an increase in crashes involving drug-impaired drivers.
Vermont Public Radio reports the workers are trained to evaluate drivers at police stations or hospitals, and if they think someone is impaired then a blood test can be ordered.
Vermont State Police say experts were called for 263 evaluations in 2017, a 13 percent increase over the previous year. Marijuana accounted for 30 percent of all drugs detected.
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