Is it DUI To Drive Under the Influence of Prescription Drugs?

Let’s say that you are driving ,and another driver is driving erratically. Perhaps they are swerving, stooping without warning, hugging the side of the road—all hallmark signs of someone who is driving while impaired. They cause an accident, get tested…and to your surprise, they do not have any alcohol in their blood. What happened?

What About Prescription Drugs?

What could have happened is that they were driving under the influence of drugs, or prescription drugs, and drugs that impaired their ability to safely and properly operate a vehicle. So, if you were the one injured by a driver operating a vehicle while under the influence of drugs, can you still sue the other driver, and allege that he or she was driving while impaired?

The answer is yes—a negligent driver can still be liable for DUI, even if they were under the influence of legally prescribed prescription drugs. This also includes legally, medically prescribed marijuana—even if the driver had a legal right to have, use, and possess the marijuana, that doesn’t mean that they can safely operate a car, while under its influence.

No Conviction is Necessary

Any discussion of DUI has to start with understanding that even if there is no criminal conviction for DUI, you, as someone injured by a DUI driver, can still sue, and prove that the other driver was under the influence of drugs or alcohol, while they were behind the wheel of a vehicle.

In fact, many criminal juries may be hesitant to convict someone in this scenario—there is more sympathy for a criminal Defendant who takes a legally prescribed prescription medicine and gets behind the wheel, than there is for someone who gets bleary eyed drunk, and gets behind the wheel.

Law Includes Drugs

Massachusetts is rare, because unlike many other states, Massachusetts law specifically states that it is illegal to not only drive while drunk, but also to drive under the influence of “marijuana, narcotic drugs, depressants or stimulant substances.”

Detecting Drugs

Unlike someone who is driving under the influence of alcohol, where a breathalyzer can just detect a blood alcohol level and spew out a number, that doesn’t happen for drivers that are driving while under the influence of drugs.

There are experts who can detect or identify the signs of being under the influence of drugs while driving, but there aren’t many of those experts around, and many police officers or law enforcement in the field aren’t trained to identify these signs and signals.

That means that if you are injured by someone who was driving erratically or who was really not in control of their vehicle, it will be on you to show, in court, that the other driver had taken or was under the influence of a medication when he or she caused your accident.

You can often do this by, during the course of your injury case, getting information on the negligent, impaired drivers’ prescription history, or getting his or her medical records. Sometimes, drugs or marijuana or prescription bottles are even found in the vehicle by the investigating officer at the scene of the accident.

Injured by any kind of impaired driver? Whether DUI with alcohol or medications, we can help. Call the Boston personal injury lawyers at The Law Office of Joseph Linnehan, Jr. today at 617-275-4200.

Sources:

malegislature.gov/laws/generallaws/parti/titlexiv/chapter90/section24

nytimes.com/2010/07/25/us/25drugged.html