Michigan DUI Book
In Michigan you can be convicted of “OWI” if you are driving with drugs in your system. Like drunk driving, there are two ways to prove OWI-drugs. Here is a small excerpt from The DUI Book:
2.2 The two general types of OWI – drugs. The Michigan crime of “OWI” can also be proven based on the presence of a drug in your system, or a combination of drugs and alcohol at the time you were operating a motor vehicle.[1] If the drug in question is a prescribed or over-the-counter drug, then the prosecutor must show that this drug or combination of this drug and alcohol caused your ability to operate the motor vehicle to be “substantially lessened.”
On the other hand, if the drug in question is a controlled substance, then the acronym for the drunk driving offense is OUID, which stands for operating under the influence of drugs. This crime is “zero tolerance,” meaning if the drug is present in your system while you are driving, then you are guilty regardless of if the drug impacted your ability to drive. The zero tolerance drugs are set forth in “Schedule 3″ of the Michigan statutes.[2]
You should understand that it is possible to be charged with this crime even for over-the-counter drugs, that is provided they affect your driving. For example, there have been instances in other states where people have been prosecuted even for drugs as benign as Benadryl. In fact, in the DRE (drug recognition expert) training program, law enforcement officers are taught using this working definition of a drug: Any substance, which when taken into the human body, can impair the ability of the person to operate a vehicle safely.
You can also be charged if the drug in question is a controlled substance. If it is, then the crime is “zero tolerance”, meaning if the drug is present in your system while you are driving, then you are guilty regardless of if the drug impacted your ability to drive. These drugs are specifically listed in the Michigan statute, and include derivatives of the main drugs, and also include the so-called designer drugs.
If you are charged in Michigan for drugged driving contact the Barone Defense Firm today for a FREE case evalulation.
[1]M.C.L.A.257.625(1)(a).
[2]M.C.L.A. 333.7210 et. seq.; M.C.L.A. 333.7216.
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