Your lawmakers and police at work.

[briarpatch]

Some worry DUI law change could land sober drivers in jail


 
CENTRAL FLORIDA — State lawmakers are looking at a controversial bill aimed at preventing people from driving under the influence.

The bill would change the law from "driving under the influence" to "driving while impaired."

But some worry the change will lead to sober people getting arrested.

Currently DUI means you're driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol, but the law could change so that if an officer suspects you're impaired you could be given a urine test for drugs or pill that could have been in your system for weeks.

"If that's how the law is going to be written, it risks individual's freedoms being taken away based on criteria that they're not even impaired by the medications," said DUI attorney Stuart Hyman

Hyman says even if you're not impaired, the urine test could still pick up on the drugs.

He says it's still based on an officer's judgment, which means you could still spend a night in jail.

"I have reservations that they are going to seize the urine and blood of an individual who they cannot establish is impaired by any drugs or medications," said Hyman.

Renea Perkins supports the bill. She says drugs are illegal, and drivers on pills shouldn't be on the road.

"It states on the pills you shouldn't drive a motor vehicle, so you take the chance when an officer stops you, of being impaired," said Perkins.

Others say the bill is essentially requiring a drug test just to drive.

"I don't think that's right. You're not under the influence of drugs or alcohol at the time you're driving a vehicle. To me that's lawful," said Carolann Byron.

Some DUI attorneys also say the Florida Department of Law Enforcement is currently so backlogged with processing urine tests that there is no way they could get the results in time for a speedy trial.

[yellowtail3]

BOHICA

[LabRat2k3]

Urine drug test do not look for the actual drugs in your urine but rather the byproduct from your body processing the drugs. Most drugs of abuse do not stay in your system for months at a time, that's why junkies are always looking for another fix. Also any drug screening kit has to have a cut off limit. In other words the drug metabolites have to be above a set level before it reads positive. Every commercial drug screen kit that I have ever used WILL NOT give a positive result for drugs used at therapeutic levels, the cut off is set at a level that would indicate the drugs are in your system at a level that is beyond normal prescription levels. There are, however, substances that can cause false positives in any drug screen and if you believe that is the case with a test you have given you sould request that the specimen be sent to an independent referance lab which will test your urine with a gas chromatograph and be able to tell exactly what substances are present.

[Cuts Crooked]

Every commercial drug screen kit that I have ever used WILL NOT give a positive result for drugs used at therapeutic levels, the cut off is set at a level that would indicate the drugs are in your system at a level that is beyond normal prescription levels.

So.....what's the "normal prescription level" for Mary Jane?

[LabRat2k3]

I don't know never seen a Mary Jane pill. After all pills and medications are what they are talking about in this article right? I'm not at the lab right now because I work overnights, but if you truly want to know the cutoff for THC I'd be more than glad to provide it for you. If you are just trying to be a smart ass congratulations you get 50 internet cool points, hope that helps you feel better about yourself.
Cutoff for THC is 50ng/mL

[guzzijohn]

Cuts Crooked may be just making a joke or he may be referring to how long after smoking weed would it still show up in this kind of testing since it is detectable for a much longer period of time. Back in the 80s when drug testing became much more common I knew of people that previously had only been pot users until they came under testing. They gave up pot and went to cocaine in most cases due to being able to party Friday night on cocaine and still test clean on the following Monday, couldn't do that with pot.
GuzziJohn

[briarpatch]

The problem I see here is not what you have and dont have in your system. Its having to piss in a cup when the cops want you to.
They will have everybody they stop piss in a cup just to show them they can.
We are turning over the rights of people to a group that has a history of abuse and that abuse is becoming worse. The more power they get the more they will obtain.
Some will say, you are against the police? No I am not, I am against terrorist and that is what is being trained in the name of police. Why a hood over a cops head? Why do they call us civilians?

[guzzijohn]

Quote from briarpatch:
"The problem I see here is not what you have and dont have in your system. Its having to piss in a cup when the cops want you to. They will have everybody they stop piss in a cup just to show them they can.
We are turning over the rights of people to a group that has a history of abuse and that abuse is becoming worse. The more power they get the more they will obtain.
Some will say, you are against the police? No I am not, I am against terrorist and that is what is being trained in the name of police. Why a hood over a cops head? Why do they call us civilians?"


Good post. I can just see having roadblocks like they do now for DWI except everyone will have to piss in the cup instead. At least if you have been drinking it will be easier to piss.
GuzziJohn

[Empty Quiver]

Double edge sword here.


 If the drug is not impairing you you will not be randomly tested. People are not randomly pulled over for breathalyzer tests, they happen after you have been stopped for some other reason. If however you are driving as though you are impaired you might just get tested at which point they will know what was impairing you. That would seem to be a good thing, getting impaired drivers off of the road. Are you less impaired by a Tylenol 3 or a couple stiff cocktails? DOESN'T matter you are impaired!!


Without reading the entire bill I'm not sure they are going to be having random piss test stations. I would hope there are some words to the effect that probable cause is needed.


I'm a commercial driver and this is the world I already live in. Their truck, my car no difference .03 is a violation. Any trace means no driving the truck. Piss testing is at the officers discretion as well as random testing by my employer being mandated.


Driving is a privilege, not a right blah, blah ,blah. You and I, and the stupid SOB down the street, are electing these people. They are in power by our leave we need to remember this.

[LabRat2k3]

It's already illegal to drive under the influence of pot, coke or any other illegal drug, see the part of the article where it states "currently DUI means you're under the influence of drugs or alcohol". This new law is about prescription drug abuse. If you think that you are going to get busted for taking a lortab or percocet two weeks ago, you have nothing to worry about. First you are going to have to get pulled over, then the officer is going to determine you are impaired, then you are going to have to have a higher than normal level of the drug in you system. This is about someone driving with a nose full of xanax, or after shooting some delotted. I fully agree that there are many laws on the books now that really cross the line and infringe on many of our freedoms, but there are some laws that are good. All this law does is make it just as illegal to drive high on prescription drugs as it is to drive while drunk.

[Empty Quiver]

Just curious, what are the chances the pharmaceutical companies have decided to compete with the narco types? I don't ever remember so many stories about over the counter stuff being abused

[smokehouserex]

 
  Hey LabRat2K3
  I wonder if this is part of the program to create new jobs, it sure will.
  I thought it has always been illegal to drive while impared by prescription drugs or not. I don't think it is a new law just a new way to address it. A lot of people, maybe not percentage wise, do share prescriptions with those that it is not prescribed for/to which is illegal also, I'm sure you already now that, just saying.........
  Freedoms given up without a fight are mostly never regained,   It's happening in all areas.  Makes you wonder why they need so many new ones when they will not/cannot enforce the ones already on the books.
  JMO
  HM

[twoshooter]

I did not see the "illegal " part of it, just impaired. You can be "impaired" by  prescription drugs every day. The doctor used to tell me "you should not drive or operate machinery while taking this medication", so I took the medication while I was standing there. He said where are you going, I told him I had to drive back to work, He asked what I did. I told him, I operate heavy machinery.

I have to drug test on my Job. I even made up a song for them. Remember Jim Croce's Time in a bottle?

If I have to pee in a bottle,
I'll tell you what I will do,
just step out the door and I'll poop on your floor
so you'll have a stool sample too.....

[smokehouserex]

 
 
  Hey twoshooter:
 
  Didn't know you were a poet also,,  pretty funny!
  I may be wrong by thinking about impaired driving when taking prescription meds., but I thought impaired driving was impaired driving and still a potential hazard, if you are drug tested and have a prescription then it is not considered drug abuse but the impaired driving ect. was still punishable by law just no drug violation. Thats the reason behind the comment,,, I may be misinformed/wrong in my interpretation.
  HM
 
 
  Lab Rat:
  do you think that some kind of DNA testing may be or could be  in this test also,,,,,,just wondering how far they may take this??
  HM

[LabRat2k3]

They can already take blood and urine from you to test for illegal drugs if they think you are DUI. See that last line where they say there is a backlog on urine testing? They are already doing urine tests, this only increases what they are testing for. It is their effort to keep up with what is happening today. In the southeast atleast, I'm not sure about the rest of the country, prescription drug abuse has over taken illegal drug use.
Smokehouserex, It may create new jobs, or they may just add it to the work load of the tech they already have. Hope the state lab pays better in FL than they do around here or they will have a hard time hiring anyone, I make 3x as much in a hospital lab as they offered me in the state lab. Also on DNA testing. It can be done, but urine is not the ideal specimen, and DNA testing is time consuming and expensive. i don't think they would want to do it for every traffic stop but who knows.
There are well established cutoff limits that your specimen will have to be over before it will test positive, just like with a breathalyzer you will have to be over the set limit before it is a problem.
I know that no level of truth will change some peoples mind, they think everthing that the government does is bad. I think that it should be just as illegal to drive with enough pain meds in you to knock out a horse as it is to drive while you are drunk. The only way to know if you have drugs in your system is to test for them.