Alcohol intoxication is the first thing that most people think about when they hear the words impaired driving. If they hear that someone got DUI, which stands for driving under the influence, they assume that it means that person was intoxicated.
In many cases, that assumption would be correct. Alcohol is one of the easiest drugs to test for, thanks to breath tests, and so many of these cases do result from alcohol use. Alcohol is also very widely used, and that frequency contributes to how many violations and accidents there are every year.
All that said, it is important to understand that you can be driving under the influence of something that is not alcohol and still be guilty of a crime. This is not just an issue with drunk driving.
What else can impair your ability to drive?
Anything you take can potentially impair your ability to drive. For instance, you may just have prescription medications, such as painkillers. Many of these come with warnings that you should never drive after taking them, and you can be arrested if you do so, even though it was totally legal for you to have and use those drugs.
Recreational drugs also fall into this category. For instance, if you smoke marijuana and then drive, you can be arrested on impaired driving charges.
If you have been arrested and you are facing serious charges that have the potential to change your entire future, it’s incredibly important to understand all of your defense options. These may be different depending on the substance you are accused of having used.