DUI and Marijuana
DUI & Marijuana It is illegal to drive under the influence of drugs and/or alcohol. You could be charged with DUI when you drive under the influence of drugs and it impairs you to the point that you can no longer drive like a sober person under similar circumstances. Now you may question what are the differences between driving under the influence of alcohol and drugs. When you are charged with a DUI, the government must prove that your blood-alcohol concentration, or BAC, at or above .08%. However, there is no blood alcohol level when you are charged with driving under the influence of drugs or marijuana. Furthermore, the chemical tests between Alcohol DUI and Drugs DUI are quite different. When you are suspected driving under the influence of alcohol, you will be given a breath test. It’s a test that is typically administered by having a driver blow into a breathalyzer device which analyzes a breath sample and determines the concentration of alcohol. Breath tests are commonly considered less reliable than blood tests. A lawyer can bring these into question to challenge your breath test result.
Marijuana
When you are suspected of driving under the influence of marijuana in Washington, and/or Maryland. The police will probably try and ask you to do a urine analysis at the police station. It should be important to note that it is not the issue of what drugs the suspect had consumed. It’s how that particular drug affects the driver’s ability to operate a motor vehicle. Therefore, the drug used by the suspect could be LEGAL drugs such as NyQuil or Benadryl. If those drugs impair his/her ability to drive, you could be charged with a DUI in DC or Maryland. Aside from the chemical testing, the prosecution may offer other evidence to prove the suspect was under the influence. Such evidence may include: Statements made by the suspect; Erratic driving; Appearance of the drive (e.g. smell like alcohol or marijuana); Performance of the Field Sobriety Test; Defending a case of Driving Under the Influence of Marijuana or drugs is a complex one. You should consult with a competent lawyer to argue your case at trial, or successfully negotiate a favorable outcome. Today, prosecution still faces challenges in proving these types of cases. For example, the government needs to prove how a particular drug (detected in the suspect’s body) affected the way he/she was driving. Please see Marijuana and Driving: A Review of the Scientific Evidence for a more in-depth discussion.