Drugged driving defenses have interesting options

On Behalf of | Jan 25, 2019 | DWI/DUI Defense, Firm News

While you might be tempted think about drunk driving as being related only to alcohol, this isn’t at all the case. You can face these types of charges if your driving ability is impaired by other substances like legal medications or illegal drugs. It is imperative that you take the time to find out how anything you use or ingest is going to affect your abilities before you get behind the wheel.

You might think that you are safe from criminal prosecution if your doctor prescribed the substance that led to the impairment. This isn’t the case. It doesn’t matter if you had a prescription or if you legally purchased the medication, the charges you will face aren’t based on those factors. They are based on the fact that your driving abilities were altered, and you still opted to drive.

There are some challenges that come with drugged driving cases. One of the primary ones is that there aren’t tests that can accurately gauge a level of the drug that’s in your system and impacting your abilities to drive. Most drugs aren’t flushed from the body as quickly as alcohol, so you could have evidence of the substance in your blood but that doesn’t mean that the intoxicating effects are still present.

When you are planning a defense against these charges, be sure you consider all possible options. This might include calling the method for determining impairment level into account. The goal of your defense is to show that there is reason to doubt what the prosecution is claiming. You don’t have to prove that you are innocent, but the prosecution does have to be able to prove that you are guilty beyond a reasonable doubt if they want a conviction.