Highway Patrol’s Senior Sergeant Ian Brooks said he was disappointed with the results, which were higher than the state average.

He warned that police would be carrying out more drug tests across the region in the coming months.

Read more: Tougher penalties for drink and drug driving coming to Victoria

“It’s indicating to us that it’s an area of high risk that is increasing,” Senior Sergeant Brooks said.

“We have an increased capacity to do these drug tests, so there will be an increased presence from the Highway Patrol in enforcing it.

“We have a zero tolerance towards anybody who thinks that driving with drugs in your system is appropriate, and we will take any lawful step we can to have them and their cars removed from the road..”

Highway Patrol have conducted about 600 oral fluid tests on drivers, approximately 130 of which have returned a positive result. Tests have the ability to detect methamphetamine and cannabis.

According to a national survey three in four drug users across Australia take methamphetamine.

The Illicit Drug Reporting system is an ongoing monitoring system conducted in all states and territories since 2000.

The system aims to provide a picture of emerging issues and trends in drug use by conducting annual interviews with groups of regular drug injectors.

Methamphetamine use has been driven by a significant increase in the use of crystal methamphetamine.

Seventy-three percent of participants in the survey reported use of cannabis. Nearly half of those took the drug daily. 

Fifty-one percent of those sampled reported taking heroin. Of these 31 percent said they took heroin daily.

Cocaine use has decreased among the sample group since monitoring began, sitting at 14 percent in 2018.

Pharmaceutical opioid use has remained stable or dropped since monitoring began.

Twenty percent of the national sample had reported experiencing a non-fatal overdose in the past year.

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