DUI for prescriptions? Follow-up

[notsmartmark]

Any state.

Let's say the DUI for prescriptions was a cleaner case. What if a driver is taking pain medicine at the prescribed dosage, which is not an excessive dosage, and there are no other mitigating circumstances, could that driver if in a fender bender end up fighting a DUI charge?

 

[kathrynne]

Since driving on ANTIHISTAMINES is now being treated in many cases as a DUI, I'd say that's a yes!

 

[Curt581]

Let's say the DUI for prescriptions was a cleaner case. What if a driver is taking pain medicine at the prescribed dosage, which is not an excessive dosage, and there are no other mitigating circumstances, could that driver if in a fender bender end up fighting a DUI charge?

Yes. The little bottles say "Do Not Drive or Operate Heavy Machinery" for a reason.

We recently had a case of a woman arrested for DUI after an accident. She exhibited signs of extreme impairment, totally unable to stand on her own at the scene. Because she had some superficial injuries, a blood draw was done at the hospital. She had no alcohol in her system, but a prescription sleep aid called "Ambien" was detected... in much higher than therapeutic levels. The blood analyst was amazed she wasn't comatose.

She was found guilty.

 

[CdwJava]

Any state.

Let's say the DUI for prescriptions was a cleaner case. What if a driver is taking pain medicine at the prescribed dosage, which is not an excessive dosage, and there are no other mitigating circumstances, could that driver if in a fender bender end up fighting a DUI charge?

Yes.

The law is about driving impaired. It doesn't give a pass to people that thought they wouldn't or shouldn't have been impaired. If someone has an allergic reaction to the medication that causes the impairment then that is a medical cause for the collision and not DUI. But most serious narcotics, painkillers, muscle relaxants, etc. should not be used prior to driving.

- Carl