The number of people arrested in Larimer County on charges of driving while under the influence of marijuana rose 48 percent last year.
The department in 2015 charged 177 people with DUID and 135 of them were suspected of using marijuana, according to a news release.
In 2014, 91 of the 130 people charged with DUID were suspected of being high on weed.
The sheriff’s department said the overall number of people it arrested for driving under the influence or driving under the influence of drugs fell slightly to 625 in 2015 from 665 in 2014.
On the road
Assessing 2015: A slow shift on working marijuana into alcohol-centered road safety
NEW: Get podcasts of The Cannabist Show.
Subscribe to our newsletter here.
Watch The Cannabist Show.
Investigations in drugged driving are more time consuming, which takes deputies off the road. That may account for the overall drop in arrests, the department said.
Last week, the Colorado State Patrol reported its troopers arrested fewer people on allegations they were driving under the influence of marijuana last year than in the previous year.
It was the first year the state patrol had year-to-year comparisons since recreational marijuana became legal in 2014.
The state continues to work to understand the impact and what it means to be high while driving.
Last year, the State Patrol began testing five devices to help troopers detect whether drivers are too high to be behind the wheel.
Noelle Phillips: 303-954-1661, nphillips@denverpost.com or @Noelle_Phillips
Updated Feb. 17, 2016, at 3:40 p.m. This article has been revised to reflect the following correction. Originally, due to a reporter’s error, the percent increase in the number of people arrested in Larimer County on charges of driving while under the influence of marijuana was incorrect. The number of arrests rose 48 percent.
