In this South Bend Tribune file photo, a Michigan state trooper holds a cartridge used in a portable device to test a driver's saliva for the presence of drugs. Staff file photo by Robert Franklin
In January 2020, as southwest Michigan towns were about to see their first recreational marijuana shops open, St. Joseph County Prosecutor Ken Cotter, south of the Indiana line, was meeting with police officers at their shift change roll calls.
Cotter told officers in South Bend, Mishawaka and the county to watch for Hoosiers driving to the new shops, getting high and driving back home.
“We wanted to let them know that this is something that we take very seriously, and I believe they do too, so please be on the lookout for it,” Cotter said.
By the end of that year, his office would file 103 cases of operating a motor vehicle while impaired by a Schedule I or II controlled substance, a 45% increase from the 71 such cases in 2019.
That increase came despite a decrease in traffic accidents and all types of OWI arrests, as the state and county implemented orders to reduce travel during the coronavirus pandemic.
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