Essex facing a drug-driving pandemic, say police

Soaring drug-driving offences in Essex have been branded a "pandemic" by the county's chief constable.

More than 1,700 arrests have been made on suspicion of the offence in 2025, a rise from 971 the year prior.

Ben-Julian Harrington, the chief constable of Essex, said the offenders were "criminal, reckless, careless and a risk to society".

More officers are due to patrol at the weekend as the force prepares for what could be its busiest of the year.

Adam Pipe, the force's head of roads policing, has already described the volume of deaths on Essex's roads as "relentless".

Fifty-eight people, including an Essex Police officer, have been killed in transit in 2025.

Mr Harrington was speaking to the BBC as he urged people thinking of drug-driving over Christmas to rethink.

"It's something of a pandemic across Essex," he said.

"You make yourself less fit, you put your own life at risk, you put those people in the car at risk and you put the public at risk.

"However great you are, whatever high it gives you, it makes you less able to drive that machine."

Officers were "repeatedly" catching people, mainly young men, who were intoxicated behind the wheel, Mr Harrington added.

According to his force, one in three road deaths nationally involved cocaine or cannabis.

The chief constable said people had a "moral responsibility" to ensure their friends made the right decisions.

Too many officers were being traumatised by having to attend fatal crashes, he suggested.

Mr Harrington said: "There's been so many tragedies where we have seen the driver of a car has survived but their passengers – which have been girlfriends, boyfriends, partners – are the people who've died.

"However great a driver you are – whether you think you're Max Verstappen or whoever – if you've taken drugs, all those skills go out the window."

"You'll be prosecuted and if you're found guilty you'll lose your licence, you might lose your job but, more importantly, you might lose your life."

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