DRUID Supports Law Enforcement Training with Impairment Education

DRUID in its 7th Cannabis Use Workshop for Workplace Supervisors and Law Enforcement Training

DRUID results align with the comprehensive DRE examination

Impairment Science, Inc. recently participated in its 7th Cannabis Workshop with Drug Recognition Experts (DRE). The Chesapeake Region Safety Council (CRSC) has sponsored 30 of the pioneering workshops, partnering with DRE Instructors to help educate safety professionals in industry, government, and law enforcement. With almost 2 years of data collected, the workshop results show a high correlation between DRE judgments regarding impairment and the DRUID score.

“Each workshop concludes with a data review session, led by the DRE Instructor. In the review, DRUID results align closely with the conclusion of the DRE exam” said Chris Bensley, COO from Impairment Science. “We are grateful to participate in these CRSC workshops and believe that the DRUID 1-minute impairment test is complementary with law enforcement’s widely-recognized, comprehensive DRE protocol.”

About the DRE Examination

The Drug Recognition Expert (DRE) protocol is a standardized 12-step process used by trained law enforcement officers to determine whether a driver is impaired by drugs, and if so, what type of drug is causing the impairment. This protocol is especially useful when a driver shows signs of impairment but alcohol isn't detected, helping identify potential drug use as the cause of unsafe driving. The DRE program is backed by the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).

The DRE protocol is highly standardized and detailed. It is a systematic method of determining if a subject has been Driving Under the Influence of Drugs (DUD) and relies on a combination of physical and behavioral observations, medical assessments, and toxicology reports to provide a reliable assessment of drug impairment. The DRE protocol generally requires the subject to be taken into a police station. Based on the evaluation, the DRE forms an opinion on whether the suspect is impaired by drugs and if so, what category of drug.

Conducting a DRE exam

About the DRUID Test

The DRUID test is a 1-minute cognitive and motor assessment test done on a mobile device. The app is highly accurate and has been validated in multiple peer-reviewed scientific studies. DRUID applies neuroscience to assess a user’s level of cognitive and motor impairment by recording hundreds of measures during the game-like test. DRUID measures what your brain and body are doing — and how well or poorly they are doing it. At the end of the test, DRUID provides a score that is compared to the user’s normal score or “baseline”.

Taking DRUID after consumig cannabis

About the Cannabis Workshops

CRSC’s Cannabis Use Workshops typically have 8-10 volunteer Cannabis participants who are requested to arrive sober. Many of the participants in the workshop are medical marijuana cardholders, so their tolerance can be quite high. Unlike drug testing which seeks to determine whether a chemical is present in the body – a proxy for impairment - DRUID measures impairment directly by examining the person’s cognitive and psychomotor performance at a given moment, regardless of consumption amount.

Participants are given practice tests through the use of the DRUID app to determine their DRUID baseline score when they arrive, and are asked to consume first with normal use and then again later, to the point that they feel impaired. The first round of normal use is followed by a private discussion with their assigned DRE as to whether the participant was considered impaired. Each period of subsequent use is followed by the DRUID app and DRE assessments, the latter DRE evaluations are conducted by newly trained law enforcement students supervised by their assigned DRE and shadowed by workplace and highway safety professionals who have just completed CRSC’s free “Impairment Education” class. 

Other newly added sessions of the program for students include learning about various impairment assessment technologies available as a resource in the workplace - such as DRUID, meeting with Cannabis users to discuss perspectives on consumption, their organization’s workplace off-duty use policies, the consumer's perspectives on their ability to drive and perform work duties, and various methods of use, strains, THC% and length of effects.

DRE Scoring Session at end of workshop

Preliminary Outcomes of the Cannabis Workshops

The CRSC workshops provide a pool of data for analyzing the cognitive state of cannabis users, pre- and post-consumption. At the end of each workshop, the DRE provides the results for each of their 12-part process along with their conclusion whether the participant is impaired and should not drive. Next, the participant is asked for their subjective experience, whether they believe they could drive and work safely in their current state. And finally, the DRUID score for each participant is given.

From the first 6 workshops that DRUID has participated in, 44 participants have been scored on both the DRE evaluation and the DRUID app tests. Preliminary results show that DRUID correlated with the DRE assessment nearly 90% of the time. DRUID similarly aligned with the participant’s self-evaluation on whether they thought they were capable of driving safety.

Impairment Science will be participating in several more workshops in the next year. With the additional data, a comprehensive analysis and report will be developed. “Since the DRE work is well-known through the safety world as a model, this additional validation will support the use of DRUID in any safety-sensitive activity, whether driving or operating dangerous machinery” added Bensley.