DRIVERS who risk going behind the wheel after taking drugs could find themselves arrested by specially-trained police.

The force in County Durham is putting its 80 traffic officers through Fitness Impairment Training (Fit), to help them detect whether a driver is under the influence of illegal drugs, such as cannabis or amphetamines, or from prescription medicines.

The training will give them a good idea of the drugs taken, which will be confirmed by a blood test.

Chief Inspector Paul Goundry, Durham's head of traffic, said: "These tests are absolutely superb at detecting the impaired driver. If alcohol has been discounted at a road side test we can now use the Fit tests, which are simple to perform when sober but much more difficult to do when impaired.''

Although officers can usually tell by someone's breath if they have drunk alcohol, it is harder to tell if they have had drugs. But they can use similar tests to those used before the breath test for drink was introduced in the 1960s.

These include checking to see if a driver's pupils are dilated and asking them to do simple tasks, such as walking in a straight line or standing on one leg for 30 seconds.

Officers in the Cleveland and Northumbria forces are also undergoing the training.

Vanessa Bainbridge, of the Northumberland Drug Action Team, said: "We need people to take this issue seriously.

"Drugs affect the way you think and behave and can have a significant effect on your sense of judgement and reaction times.

"We all know that drink driving don't mix - we need to continue getting across the same message about drugs.''

Alan Kennedy, chairman of the Local Authority Road Safety Officers Association, said: "We are delighted with the results of the first phase of the campaign and see this second phase as crucial to reinforcing those messages and making people aware that this is an enforceable offence which can have serious consequences.''

The crackdown is being backed by an advertising campaign with pictures of George Fisher, 23, of Blyth, who was killed in 2001.

It also involves road safety officers and Drug Action Teams. The first phase highlighted the penalties drug drivers faced - the same as for drink drivers.