MARSHALL — The Minnesota Department of Public Safety hopes that new roadside drug screening tools could help get impaired drivers off the road. Earlier this spring, the department’s Office of Traffic Safety completed a pilot study on instruments that can help detect drugs in saliva.

The saliva testing instruments are screening tools similar to the preliminary breath tests (PBTs) that law enforcement officers use to detect drunk driving, the OTS said in a news release.

“Driving while under the influence of drugs or a combination of drugs and alcohol is a threat to every person on the road. Advances in roadside technology will help law enforcement identify drug-impaired drivers and keep us all safe,” OTS Director Mike Hanson said in a news release.

Lyon County Sheriff Eric Wallen said that currently, getting a confirmation that someone is driving under the influence of drugs, involves waiting for the results of a blood or urine test.

“It’s something we’re trained to handle. It just takes longer,” Wallen said.

Wallen said he didn’t know how close roadside drug screening tools were to being in general use for law enforcement. “It would be great technology,” he said.

The OTS pilot program, which ran from January through August 2024, tested two instruments: the Abbott SoToxa Oral Fluid Mobile Test System and the Dräger DrugTest 5000. Drug recognition evaluators from 41 law enforcement agencies across Minnesota evaluated the instruments for factors like accuracy and practicality, the OTS said.

In southwest Minnesota, agencies that participated in the pilot program included the Pipestone County Sheriff’s Office and the Renville County Sheriff’s Office.

The Abbott and Dräger instruments could detect recent use of drugs in six classes, including amphetamines, methamphetamines, cocaine, benzodiazepines, cannabinoids and opiates. To test them, oral swabs were taken from pulled-over drivers who agreed to be part of the program, the OTS said. The results of the swabs couldn’t be used in court.

The pilot project detected drugs in 87.2% of tests, the OTS said. Cannabinoids, methamphetamines and amphetamines were detected most often. The pilot project found that most test results matched blood or urine tests more than 82% of the time.

The Minnesota Star Tribune reported that the OTS is asking state lawmakers to approve use of drug testing devices, and cover the cost of implementing them in police departments across Minnesota. That cost would come to $5,000 per testing unit, and $25 per test.

Wallen said he wasn’t aware of the OTS pilot program. Currently, the Lyon County Sheriff’s Office detects impaired drivers through methods like field sobriety tests and lab tests.

A driver who is pulled over would go through field sobriety tests, and a PBT would be able to help rule out whether the driver was under the influence of alcohol, Wallen said. A blood or urine test would be needed to determine if a driver was under the influence of drugs, and what kind of drugs.

“Ultimately, we do need to wait for that lab sample,” Wallen said.

The Sheriff’s Office does have an officer who is trained as a drug recognition evaluator, Wallen said.

Wallen said it was “probably a little early” to tell if legalizing cannabis in Minnesota was leading to a rise in people driving under its influence. Most DWIs in Lyon County still involve alcohol, he said.