internal possesion of alcohol in NH

[johnny975]

I'm a college student in New Hampshire. I'm 20 years old, and last night I was at a party. I decided not to drink, but had taken my allergy medicine, Allegra, later in the day than usual. I also take St. John's Wort, an herbal supplement for treating depression, and I'm pretty sure the two had a pretty severe interaction. At around 2:30 a.m. I started feeling very tired, dizzy and nauseous so I decided to walk back to my dorm. By the time I got there I was in a state of extreme mental confusion and couldn’t find my Student ID. Campus Safety mistook me for being intoxicated and basically coerced me into admitting that I was. They made me sign all these forms that I couldn’t even understand and kept asking me how much I drank that night. I just kept changing the numbers to try to say what they wanted to hear because at this point I could barely even think. They never breathalyzed me, either. I now have a hearing scheduled for February and have to try to convince the Judge that I, a college student, was not drunk. It also doesn’t help that I have a previous underage drinking charge from when I was 17 – the night that I graduated from high school, my friends and I got caught drinking. Since this is a second offense there is a minimum fine of $500, which will really be hard for me to pay. I've gathered peer-reviewed articles about the drug interactions between the Allegra and St. John's Wort, and I also have my prescription bottles to prove I've been taking them. Any help would be greatly appreciated, I don't know where to go from here.What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)?

 

[cyjeff]

According to the University of Maryland's Med School...

Allergy drugs (antihistamines) -- St. John's wort may reduce levels of these drugs in the body, making them less effective:

Loratadine (Claritin)
Cetirizine (Zyrtec)
Fexofenadine (Allegra)​

Nothing about losing your mind or acting drunk...just that it makes the Allegra less effective...

If you want to try this, I recommend you bring your doctor into court with you.

 

[johnny975]

Unfortunately my hometown is about two hours away, and the hearing is at 8 a.m. so I doubt my doctor would have much incentive to attend. Maybe I can talk to someone at my school's Health Services.

The peer-reviewed article I mentioned, from RMIT University:

In a open-label, fixed-schedule clinical study with 12 healthy
human subjects (9 women and 3 men), a single dose of SJW at 900
mg caused a significant increase by 45% of the Cmax of fexofenadine
and significant decreased by 20% of its oral CL, but no change
to its t1/2�� or renal CL [43].

CL stands for Concentration Level, and Cmax is the maximum concentration in the bloodstream.
(link:http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdf?vid=2&hid=6&sid=4239b23e-a7eb-4bd6-a6c2-0a01b16a88e3@sessionmgr4)

Increased concentration levels would increase the side effects, in my case leading to intense dizziness, nausea and fatigue.
(link: Side Effects of Fexofenadine)
If you've ever taken too much cold medicine, you probably know how that level of severe fatigue can make you seem drunk. Thank you for your advice. Also, I'm intending to highlight the way the officers basically forced me to admit I was drunk -- is this a bad idea? I have a witness willing to come to my hearing.

 

[ElvinMelvin]

What exactly were you charged with?

Were any tests done besides breathalyzer (i.e. blood, urine?) to determine your BAC?

 

[johnny975]

I was found outside my dorm by campus safety. They called the police, who wrote up a summons for underage internal possession of alcohol. I don't think they even took a breathalyzer, although my recollection is a bit hazy. I'm now working through this with my Journalism major adviser, who has worked as a P.I. and a consultant for two law firms. She seems to think I have at least a chance of beating this. My school's campus safety works with the city, which issued the summons and charge. I had to go to a disciplinary hearing at my school yesterday to face charges of public intoxication, abuse of alcohol and disruptive behavior. I brought my adviser with me and she helped me prepare all my evidence for the hearing as well as making sure my rights weren't infringed upon (she wouldn't let them audio tape the hearing as per procedure because it's illegal under state law unless all parties agree, for example). I was found "not responsible" on all charges. She now says it's possible the town will drop the internal possession charge because of the way the school and the community work together, I'll find out tomorrow when I contact the college liasion officer. There were some things she thinks were suspect in the police procedure as well, such as the way I myself did not fill out any part of the court summons and have no signature on it. There's also a time discrepancy between the court summons and Campus safety's report.