Deadly crashes involving drugged driving up in Tennessee

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) — The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration tracks drug and alcohol use in every state. Each year the administration conducts the National Survey on Drug use and Health.

The latest numbers from 2021-2022 show 12.5% of Tennessee adults report using illicit drugs in the past month. That includes marijuana, heroin, methamphetamines and the misuse of prescription drugs.

That number is up nearly 74% from the 2013 – 2014 survey, when about 7% of adults in Tennessee reported using illicit drugs in the past month.

“I went back and looked at the statistics. In 2013, we had 184 fatalities in the state that involved drugged driving. Last year, in 2023 we had 344 fatalities. So that involved drugged driving in some way, shape, form, fashion. So that’s almost a 90% increase in that 10-year span,” said Sgt. Jessie Loy, the supervisor of the crash investigation unit for the Metro Nashville Police Department.

“A lot of times, family members want to know what happened in this crash, so we do our best to be able to tell them what happened and put the crash back together, to reconstruct the crash and see what actually happened during our investigation,” Sgt. Loy said. “If it comes out that we’re able to find any kind of criminal acts that have taken place, if there’s drugged or if there’s alcohol-involved drunk driving, we will address those issues as well.”

If drugged driving is suspected, they will often call in a Drug Recognition Expert, or DRE, to conduct a 12-step evaluation on the driver. DREs are law enforcement officers highly trained and certified to recognize drivers under the influence of drugs.

“It’s taking a pulse. It’s taking a blood pressure. It’s what they see during the standardized field sobriety test, and they put all that together. Then they provide an opinion of what they believe the individuals under the influence of,” Sgt. Loy said.

The program is supported by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, and the DRE’s findings and testimony can be crucial to successfully prosecuting drugged driving cases.

Sgt. Loy hopes drivers will not only think about the charges they could face getting behind the wheel while on drugs, but also of the danger they pose to other drivers.

“Impaired driving, alcohol or drugs, it kills people,” Sgt. Loy said. “I’ve seen and talked to so many families from fatal crashes that I’ve personally investigated myself, and I see the way that it affects those families. It doesn’t just affect that family immediately; it’s going to affect them for the rest of life. So I can’t reiterate enough that it needs to stop.”

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