The region is ranked in the top for worst areas for drug driving in NSW, with 75 people being charged last financial year, according to NSW Police figures.

Griffith comes in behind Mudgee with 87, Tamworth 79 and Young 77.

Chief Inspector John Wadsworth of the Griffith LAC attributes the high statistics in the MIA to the large amount of tests his officers are conducting, rather than a widespread drug problem.

“If you look at a comparative LAC, we are punching above our weight in the number of drug tests conducted, which is more than any other LAC in the region” he said.

“Given the amount of random drug tests we do, this correlates to a higher number just from the sheer volume of tests conducted.”

With the significant cost of drug testing facilities, he says there isn’t a specific technique used by Griffith LAC to target drug drivers.

“I don’t want to get in to the cost of the lick sticks, but we have a sufficient supply here to address drug driving. Yes they do cost a lot of money, but my response is to that: so what?”

“We get statistics come back, and the majority of times, Griffith LAC as a whole are in the top three, and we are competing against places like Goulburn, Shoal Haven, Wollongong, Nowra, massive LACs, and we are doing more RBTs than them, so we are making sure we do our best to take drunk and drug drivers off the road.”

The focus on drug driving is in order to reduce the number of fatalities on MIA roads.

“Griffith LAC sees a large number of fatalities on the roads due to fatigue and speeding, we are doing everything we can to make sure that drug driving is not a contributing reason for more fatalities.”

”Our highway patrol units do everything we can, and its our job to make sure that drug driving won’t add to these fatalities.”

Inspector Wadsworth stated they are doing all they can to prevent drug drivers from being on our roads, but is in actual fact more concerned about the number of fatigue related fatalities on MIA roads.

“Fatigue is the killer, people just pushing it too hard too often, especially on the Newell Highway going to West Wyalong, its the temptation to push too far costing lives.”

In NSW it is illegal to operate a vehicle with illicit drugs present in the driver's saliva, urine or blood. NSW Police have made a commitment to increase the number of random roadside tests to detect drug driving to 97,000 by 2017. Research by the NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research found the number of people facing charges of drug driving more than tripled in the 24 months to June 2016.

In the 2015/16 financial year, drug driving charges increased 320 per cent from 2014/15 financial year.