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Driving Under the Influence of Drugs

DRIVING UNDER THE INFLUENCE OF DRUGS IN VENTURA, OXNARD AND CAMARILLO

The law that allows you to be arrested for driving under the influence (DUI) regardless of your BAC also allows you to be arrested for DUI if your driving is impaired by prescription or recreational drugs. Since there is no “legal limit” for drug intoxication, and since the California standardized field sobriety tests (FSTs) are designed to test for impairment due to alcohol only, Ventura police officers and prosecutors often have less available evidence upon which to base an alleged drug-based DUI.

However, this does not stop the police from making arrests, nor does it stop the Ventura County District Attorney’s Office from fighting for jail time for DUI convictions in cases involving alleged driving under the influence of drugs in Oxnard, Camarillo and other parts of Ventura County.

VENTURA DUIS INVOLVING PRESCRIPTION DRUGS

The Ventura County District Attorney’s Office routinely prosecutes DUI cases against individuals who were arrested for driving with medication in their systems for pain, anxiety, sleep disorders, and a variety of other valid ailments. To be certain, many of these medications can affect your ability to drive a vehicle safely, but still most people are surprised to learn that they are being charged for DUI in Ventura when all they have done is take their prescription medication.
While California’s DUI laws allow for these types of charges, the fact is that the mere presence of such medications in your blood is not enough for the prosecution to establish that you are guilty of DUI. In order to obtain a conviction, the prosecutor will also have to prove:

  • What prescription medication you took
  • How much medication you took
  • When you took it
  • That your medication (and not some other factor) actually impaired your ability to drive.

Ventura DUIs Involving Recreational Drugs

Not surprisingly, driving with marijuana or other recreational drugs in your system can also lead to a DUI arrest for driving under the influence of drugs in Camarillo, Oxnard, and elsewhere in Ventura County. However, as with prescription drugs, there is no “legal limit” for recreational drugs, and the mere fact that a recreational drug might show up in your blood is not enough to establish that you were under the influence of that drug at the time you were driving.

Defending Drug DUIs in Ventura County

The training that most officers receive for purposes of Ventura DUI investigations typically involves alcohol, and the standardized Field Sobriety Tests (FSTs) and chemical breath test are also designed to test for alcohol, not drugs. At Strongest Defense, we know the other methods officers should use to test for drug-related impairment, and we know how to fight the prosecution’s efforts to use your performance on the standardized FSTs to establish a drug DUI. If you took a blood test following your arrest, we can also use numerous tactics to challenge this evidence, and potentially even have it thrown out of your Ventura DUI case entirely.

Legal Defense for Driving Under the Influence of Drugs in Ventura

To discuss possible defenses to your drug-based DUI charge, contact us today for a free consultation. David Lehr has significant experience representing clients in Ventura drug DUI cases, and he can help you protect your rights and obtain the best possible outcome in your case.

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