Kansas, Oregon and Pennsylvania will use funding to strengthen toxicology testing, expand roadside breath testing capacity and provide specialized training to identify and remove impaired drivers from the road.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Caroline Cash (GHSA), 240-409-6375
Katie Beaumont (Responsibility.org), 202-355-1915
WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Governors Highway Safety Association (GHSA), Responsibility.org and the National Alliance to Stop Impaired Driving (NASID), a coalition established and led by Responsibility.org, are once again partnering to support state efforts to address alcohol, cannabis and poly-substance impaired driving. Now in its twelfth year, the program has awarded approximately $1.35 million to State Highway Safety Offices (SHSOs) nationwide to help reduce impaired driving, a serious yet preventable threat to roadway safety, strengthen the complex DUI system and prevent lives from being lost.
The grants, awarded in $40,000 increments, will help SHSOs and criminal justice professionals in Kansas, Oregon and Pennsylvania improve their ability to identify impaired drivers and remove them from the road through enhanced toxicology testing, mobile breath-testing tools and specialized training.
“Impaired driving remains one of the most persistent and complex threats to roadway safety, and states need strong tools, training and partnerships to respond effectively,” said Jonathan Adkins, Chief Executive Officer of GHSA. “By investing in practical, evidence-informed strategies, we can help SHSOs and local communities strengthen their response and save lives.”
“These grants reflect our shared commitment to practical, evidence-based solutions that help states address drunk and impaired driving,” said Darrin Grondel, Senior Vice President of Traffic Safety of Responsibility.org and NASID. “By strengthening toxicology, expanding proven enforcement tools and supporting specialized training, we can build a more effective system and prevent injury and death on our roads.”
Kansas: The Kansas Department of Transportation (KDOT) is partnering with the Sedgwick County Regional Forensic Science Center (RFSC) to expand the laboratory’s ability to detect the full range of drugs appearing in impaired driving cases. With fentanyl detections among drivers more than quadrupling in recent years and novel psychoactive substances creating new challenges, RFSC will train toxicology scientists on advanced mass spectrometry technology and expand its library of drug reference standards. This expanded testing capacity will support faster and more comprehensive substance identification, which is essential to keeping pace with the growing presence of multiple and emerging impairing substances in DUI cases, ensuring accurate detection of polysubstance use referrals for screening and assessment and strengthening both case outcomes and system responses to increasingly complex impaired driving patterns.
Oregon: The Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT), in partnership with the Oregon State Police (OSP), will enhance the scope of OSP’s High Visibility Enforcement Unit (HVEU) by equipping members of the team in each of the agency’s four regions with dedicated mobile evidentiary breath-testing instruments. Currently, troopers often must transport suspects to fixed testing locations, which can cost valuable time and affect evidence quality. The four new Intoxilyzer 9000 instruments funded through this grant are part of Oregon’s broader effort to secure 13 total mobile breath-testing devices statewide. The new instruments will allow law enforcement to collect roadside breath samples, reduce investigation time, improve identification of poly-substance impaired drivers and expand access to consistent enforcement tools in rural and underserved communities across the state. ODOT will also evaluate the impact of this program to inform future expansion efforts within Oregon and support broader replication of this approach in other jurisdictions.
Pennsylvania: The Pennsylvania State Highway Safety Office will partner with the Center for Forensic Science Research and Education (CFSRE) to address a rapidly shifting drug landscape in which more than a third of all DUI arrests now involve multiple drugs rather than alcohol alone. Building on 2024–2025 grant-funded research supported by Responsibility.org and GHSA, CFSRE will expand its findings on emerging drug trends, toxicology data, and patterns of polysubstance use. These insights will be developed into and delivered as a comprehensive, evidence-based training curriculum for Drug Recognition Experts and law enforcement officers. The curriculum and findings will be delivered through a four-part series with supporting materials designed to translate complex toxicology data into practical, field-ready guidance. These resources will be regularly updated to reflect the evolving drug landscape and ensure practitioners have access to the most current information. This effort is designed to serve as a national model supporting broader adoption, encouraging other states to leverage similar evidence-based approaches and advancing a more consistent, data-driven response to drug-impaired driving nationwide.
Each of these one-year grants are awarded after careful consideration from representatives from GHSA and Responsibility.org. More than a dozen applications were put forth, showing the commitment and dedication to taking steps to eliminate drunk and impaired driving throughout the country. Grant winners are required to include a comprehensive evaluation component as part of their research and investment, provide monthly updates, and present a final rollout of their findings and outcomes to substantiate the value of the grant.
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The Governors Highway Safety Association (GHSA) is a nonprofit association representing the highway safety offices of states, territories, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. GHSA provides leadership and representation for the states and territories to improve traffic safety, influence national policy, enhance program management and promote best practices. Its members are appointed by their Governors to administer federal and state highway safety funds and implement state highway safety plans.
Responsibility.org is a national not-for-profit that aims to eliminate drunk driving and work with others to end all impaired driving, eliminate underage drinking, and empower adults to make a lifetime of responsible alcohol choices. Responsibility.org is funded by the following distillers: Bacardi USA, Inc.; Brown-Forman; Campari Group; Constellation Brands; DIAGEO; Edrington, Hotaling & Co.; Mast-Jägermeister US, Inc.; Moët Hennessy USA; Ole Smoky, LLC; Pernod Ricard USA; Suntory Global Spirits; and William Grant & Sons. For more than 33 years, Responsibility.org has transformed countless lives through programs that bring individuals, families, and communities together to inspire a lifetime of responsible alcohol choices. To learn more, please visit Responsibility.org.
The National Alliance to Stop Impaired Driving is a coalition established and led by Responsibility.org to eliminate all forms of impaired driving, especially multiple substance impaired driving, through effective and proven measures such as DUI system reform, DUI detection, and improved use of data and technology. To learn more visit NASID.org.
