Staggering number of drivers affected by drugs revealed

A staggering one in 10 drivers - and potentially more - are affected by illegal drugs.

NSW Police Commissioner Karen Webb says it's becoming such an issue it "keeps (her) awake at night".

"It's about one in 10 positives, when they're tested," Webb tells A Current Affair.

The stats for drink-driving, in comparison, are one in three hundred.

"People take enormous risks unnecessarily and they put everyone else's life at risk," Webb says.

Radio broadcaster Ray Hadley has been outspoken on the issue.

"It's an ever-increasing problem and what concerns me is that as a society we now are attuned to the fact that drink-driving is socially unacceptable," he says.

"But we have a far greater problem with people who drive influenced by drugs.

"A far greater problem and it appears to me society is not thinking about that in the same way they think about drink-driving."

In NSW, the problem has become so great, drug-driver testing has become a priority.

Up until recently, the whole process could take months.

Now, it can be done in just days, which means more cops on the road and more drug tests.

A Current Affair was given rare access to the laboratory team that conducts the testing.

Watch the full story in the video above.