What Happens After Someone Is Pulled Over On Suspicion Of Drug DUI?

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After someone is pulled over on suspicion of a drug DUI, the officer is going to treat the DUI aspect of the stop the same, whether it’s alcohol or whether it is suspected to be some other type of substance. They are going to be looking for the signs of intoxication, and they are going to conduct the same field sobriety exercises. However, they are going to then be very interested in searching the vehicle, and in particular searching the individual who is pulled over. They are also going to be looking at some other things that they might not look for in a regular DUI, in reference to how fast you’re able to talk, your ability to talk, and your ability to maintain your focus. Those signs of intoxication are going to be slightly different for a particular type of drug, as opposed to alcohol.

Are Standardized Field Sobriety Tests Employed In Drug DUI Cases?

The standardized field sobriety exercises are supposed to test your ability to drive a vehicle, including your basic motor skills. Whether or not an individual would be under the influence of alcohol or drugs, they are interested in your basic motor abilities, and your ability to react in order to physically be able to maintain and operate a motor vehicle. Because of this, the standard field sobriety exercises are going to be involved in those particular cases, and they are going to be evaluated in the same manner.

How And When Do Police Actually Test For Drugs In A Person’s System?

Oftentimes, the police at the scene cannot tell whether or not the person is under the influence of drugs or alcohol. They will oftentimes read the implied consent, and ask an individual to submit to a breath test. If they submit to the breath test, and they blow really low or they blow all zeros, then the officer is going to ask for a urine test. The police have the ability to do this. The refusal to submit to that urine test will entail some of the same license suspensions with refusing a breath test. Both tests are detailed in implied consent when you sign up your driver’s license, that you are agreeing in advance that you will take those tests. If you don’t take those tests, they can suspend your license.

How Do Police Generally Test For Marijuana Use In A Drug DUI Case?

Generally, the police are not going to draw blood at the jail. Instead, they are going to ask for a urine test. They don’t have the ability to test urine at the jail. They are going to have to submit that to a lab to have it tested. Chemical tests of your blood or urine are not going to be done by the police. If you were taken to a hospital, they are not going to test it. They may be able to request a blood draw if there was an accident with serious bodily injury, and they may also be able to subpoena those records later, but the police are not going to do that. If they find a substance in the vehicle, they are going to take a chemical test of that, but those are generally litmus test. We’re not able to get into the specifics of it, it’s just going to show a positive or negative. Most of the time, those litmus tests are not going to be admissible in court, either. However, they are still going to submit it to the lab.

What Is A Drug Recognition Expert Or DRE? What Sort Of Training Do DREs Have?

For a long time, the police didn’t have the ability to differentiate between an alcohol DUI and a drug DUI, so they came up with the idea to create Drug Recognition Experts. The Drug Recognition Experts have 80 hours of training, and they are looking for different things. They are going to take your pulse, they are going to look at your eyes for horizontal and vertical gaze nystagmus, and they are going to give you some basic cognitive tests. Through that, DRE’s assert that they can tell whether or not you are high on a particular medication or drug, and they are going to tell you what type of drug it is. Over time, the title Drug Recognition Expert has been hammered in the courthouse, and they have changed it to Drug Recognition Evaluator.

They are basically still adhering to the same thing, saying that with 80 hours of training that they are going to do what doctors say they cannot do—look at you physically without a drug test and say whether or not you are under the influence of something, and tell you what you were under the influence of.

For more information on Drug DUI Charges In Florida, a free initial consultation is your next best step. Get the information and legal answers you are seeking by calling (239) 263-4384 today.