POLICE arrested 136 people on suspicion of drug driving in Essex last month.

There were also 116 drink driving arrests and 32 for failing to provide a sample.

More drug driving arrests have been made this year than the whole of 2018.

Temp Chief Insp Sharn Taylor, head of roads policing, said: “My officers continue to work hard to keep you safe on the road.

“The continued rise in drug driving arrests does looking concerning but what it highlights is that we are better equipped than ever to identify and detect drug drivers.

“We have more than 600 officers across the force who are trained to use drug wipes, and not just those working in our roads policing units.

“This means if you’re drug driving, you’re more likely to caught and taken off the road.

“Drugs can stay in your system for a significant amount of time and even if you don’t feel impaired, you could still be over the drug driving limit and so breaking the law.

“The easiest way of avoiding this is just not to do it in the first place and our message is to drive safe, drive sober.”