Can A Person Refuse A Drug Test From Law Enforcement?

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Just as with the breath test, you can refuse to take a drug test. Because you’ve agreed in advance through implied consent that you would take that test, if you didn’t take that test, which they had cause to ask you to take, your driver’s license can be suspended. The police can force a drug test if there was an accident with serious bodily injury. They can literally strap you to a gurney and draw blood. Now, if you go to the hospital and they draw blood for medical reasons, you have a right to privacy. They are not able to get those records. However, they can go to court and do a subpoena for those medical records. In court, they have to show a nexus between the medical records and the criminal charge. If they are able to show that nexus, that connection between the medical records and the criminal charge, they are going to be able to get those medical records.

Oftentimes, though the medical tests were done, they do not quantify the actual drug found in someone’s system. In other words, they’ll show a positive or a negative, but they are not quantifying. They need to have a quantity, an amount that was in the blood, to be able to have an expert later on say whether or not that could impair you. Sometimes, that medical blood doesn’t work the same as it would if they had drawn legal blood, and may be worthless to the prosecution.

Are There Ever Instances Where Police Would Need A Warrant To Carry Out A Blood Draw?

The two instances in which the police could get a warrant to carry out a blood draw would be if there was an accident, or they’d have to subpoena it. Most times, the warrant requirement, in reference to a blood, does not have a reasonable timeline. They may have the ability to do that, but they don’t do it because they need to extract the blood or otherwise have the test done quickly, because your body dissipates the effects of whatever it was. Your liver cleans out your blood quickly. The police are either going to have probable cause to take it because of the accident, or they are going to try and come back later and subpoena that with an actual motion, to try and show a connection between the medical records and the actual criminal charge.

How Reliable Are The Blood Tests That Are Taken? Can These Blood Tests Be Used To Defend The Client?

A breath test is not reliable at all. A breath test is attempting, through your breath, to show what your blood alcohol level is. However, a blood test is very reliable. The issue with blood tests is if they do not take the correct test, or the lab doesn’t do the correct test, they will show a positive or a negative without a quantification of what was in the blood. In other words, they’ll have an exclusion factor. Once it rises to this minimum level, it just shows positive. They are not going to actually tell us how much was in your system. They need a test that’s going to show how much was in your system, to be able to then later on have an expert witness for the state say, “An individual at this age, this sex, this weight, with this amount in their system, would have been intoxicated or impaired.”

Should Someone Ever Admit To Taking Prescription Or Illegal Drugs In Front Of Law Enforcement?

There is a common perception that an individual who is prescribed medication can legally drive while on that medication. A common scenario where individuals get pulled over is when the officer says, “Have you taken anything,” they’ll say they’ve taken their prescription, but nothing more. Unfortunately, that prescription, if it impairs your normal faculties, cognitive ability, or physical ability, it can lead to a DUI. Alcohol is a legal substance available to anyone over the age of 21, just as prescription medications are a legal substance. You are not allowed to drive while impaired. It would not be advisable to talk to the officer about anything that you had consumed that could have intoxicated you.

Are Drug DUI Cases Easier To Defend That Alcohol Based DUI Cases?

Drug DUI cases are no harder or easier to defend than alcohol DUI cases. They are just very different. They are going to be much more technical, in reference to medical records, exclusion factors, or lab results. I don’t necessarily find it harder or easier, just very different in the way that they are able to test it. Sometimes, when they are using these Drug Recognition Evaluators, those particular things are fertile grounds for us to be able to show that they are jumping to conclusions without much information.

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