Police will ramp up random roadside drug testing operations in the ACT with up to 2000 tests to be conducted by July next year.
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A trial period has led to 44 drivers being tested for illicit substances since May this year but with no convictions.
ACT Policing is expecting to conduct between 750 and 2000 random drug tests from now until the end of the financial year.
ACT Policing will then aim to conduct 2000 tests every subsequent year.
Those caught drug driving face a fine of up to $1100 and may lose their licences.
Repeat offenders could face fines of up to $2750 and three months imprisonment.
Chief Police Officer Roman Quaedvlieg said police were intensifying their efforts in the lead-up to summer.
Summer music festivals in the territory were identified as a particular concern by Assistant Commissioner Quaedvlieg.
''We don't want to use [random roadside drug testing] specifically for that, but if there is a community safety issue at play here, where we have people attending a particular event ... then we want to be able to target those as well,'' the Chief Police Officer said.
He said police were aware that illicit substance abuse still took place in the trucking industry, but said truck drivers would not be singled out.
Assistant Commissioner Quaedvlieg said ACT Policing had tweaked the testing process during the four-month trial period.
''We've made some adjustments in terms of the spiel that we use,'' he said.
''We're getting the timing of the tests down to something that's reasonable.''
Random drug tests will take place alongside existing random alcohol breath testing stations.
Assistant Commissioner Quaedvlieg said he expected about one positive result for every 60 tests. He said drug-driving testing was still a largely ''untested capability''.
''Drink driving took a number of years to establish to any sense of maturity nationally,'' he said.
''You talk to any jurisdiction and it's now a very rehearsed capability that has gone through a whole series of trials both operationally, logistically and through the courts.''
He said the coming months would be used to weed out any issues with laboratory analysis of test samples, and any problems with successfully prosecuting drug-driving offences.
''I'm really comfortable with where it's at, we've got good processes and good foundations,'' Assistant Commissioner Quaedvlieg said.
Unlike alcohol testing, there is no legal level of drug content, with any trace of illicit substance enough to constitute an offence. Police will not drug test drivers who have already tested positive to drink driving. Drivers who refuse to participate in drug tests will be taken into custody.
