To keep drug-impaired drivers off the nation's roadways, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) recently awarded more than $100,000 in funding to select states to educate law enforcement officers.

Specifically, the funding will support Drug Recognition and Advanced Roadside Impaired Driving Enforcement training in five states including Delaware, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Oklahoma, and West Virginia. It will also include Guam.

Managed by the International Association of Chiefs of Police in conjunction with NHTSA, the program provides a series of courses that train officers to spot motorists who are impaired by drugs such as opioids and marijuana. With the goal of reducing crashes involving substance abuse, officers learn to observe, identify and articulate the signs of impairment related to drugs, alcohol, or a combination of both substances.

The NHTSA grant finding must be used by the end of the 2019 fiscal year.

Earlier in 2018, the Governors Highway Safety Administration and the Foundation for Advancing Alcohol Responsibility awarded funding to Idaho, Minnesota, New York, Rhode Island and Vermont for the same educational training program for their respective law enforcement officers.