TULSA -- The Oklahoma Highway Patrol will be operating a special DUI enforcement patrol on April 20 as a part of a statewide operation that will focus specifically on marijuana.
Officials say since impaired driving is one of its top traffic safety concerns, law enforcement officers around the state will be performing a special END420DUI campaign.
By no coincidence, this campaign is on April 20, which is commonly associated with smoking marijuana.
Checkpoints will be set up across the state with troopers trained specifically to identify drivers under the influence of drugs.
Trooper Dwight Durant said they have noticed a higher number of traffic crashes on the unofficial holiday versus the previous and following weeks.
He said in 2013, there were 63 drug-related fatality crashes in Oklahoma. Three years later in 2016 there was more than 130.
"A lot of people get high to alter their state of mind and they get behind the wheel," Trooper Durant said. "People say 'I can drive when I’m high. It’s not like drinking and driving.' Just look at the numbers. Just look at the 115-percent increase in fatality crashes."
The patrol will be from 4 to 7 p.m. in Tulsa County, Oklahoma Highway Patrol officials said.
April 20 is commonly associated with marijuana use.
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