The New Jersey Supreme Court has ruled that the Drug Recognition Expert (DRE) protocol for evaluating a driver’s impairment by drugs is reliable and admissible in prosecutions.

New Jersey Appellate Judge Jack Sabatino.

The court’s 5-2 ruling, holding that the admission of testimony from 12-step DRE protocol is justified, comes after the Office of the Public Defender, the American Civil Liberties Union-New Jersey and the New Jersey State Bar Association expressed doubts about its reliability.