This is April 20th and the date of 4-20 is considered in some circles as a day to consume marijuana, but for law officers, it’s more akin to New Year’s Eve in their never-ending quest to rid the roads of impaired drivers.

Brett Tjepkes, chief of the Governor’s Traffic Safety Bureau, says drug-impaired driving is not only against the law, it’s dangerous, and it can be deadly.

“Recreational consumption, possession of some of these narcotics, especially cannabis, is illegal in Iowa,” Tjepkes says. “There are no free passes, just because some people may consider this to be a day to celebrate illegal consumption and use.”

State reports from 2020-to-2022 show that 36-percent of impaired driving fatalities involved drug use, which is why law officers across Iowa are paying close attention today to spotting and pulling over any problem drivers.

“Over a third of our fatalities have some kind of impairment related to them,” Tjepkes says, “and last year, 338 people were killed on Iowa’s roadways, and over 100 of those involved some kind of impairment, whether that’s alcohol or another drug or a combination of both.”

The bureau is posting a series of public service messages on social media targeting anyone who may be considering partaking in pot. They carry messages like, “If you feel different, you drive different.”

“We know that people do these things, we don’t encourage it, but if they are going to do those things, please, don’t drive,” Tjepkes says. “Find a sober driver or a...

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