Howard County DUI Drug and Alcohol Interactions

When a person is using a combination of drugs and alcohol, the general presumption is that the drug will enhance the alcohol in their system and that may lead to the person being well beyond just a simple state of impairment to a substantial state of being under the influence. Therefore, if both are present in the system and they are able to get the testing results that show that there was a substantial amount of alcohol and drugs in a person’s system, it is worse than just DUI for drugs or just a DUI for alcohol.

If a person is driving under the influence of both drug and alcohol, then the state of Maryland will take the case very seriously and will show the judge that the person was not only under the influence of alcohol, but also doing drugs.

For this reason, it is crucial to contact a Howard County DUI attorney right away to minimize the penalties of these charges as much as possible. Howard County DUI drug and alcohol interactions will result in the court taking the case particularly seriously, which is why it is especially important to contact an experienced lawyer immediately.

Penalties

Under the transportation article 21-902 C, a person can be under the influence of drugs and alcohol and the penalty would not be more serious than charges for one or the other. A person is not going to charge you with both and there will not be another DUI charge.

However, the court is going to take the case very seriously and will fully recognize the weight of someone driving under the influence of both drugs and alcohol.

Involuntary Intoxication

In many Howard County DUI drug and alchol interaction cases, if a person is taking a drug that is prescribed to them by a doctor, they presume that if they take this drug it will help them feel better and that they can continue with their everyday life. In fact, the drug itself is designed to help a person in their everyday life, and certainly, they may go out and have just one drink. If the medication makes them more susceptible or sensitive to alcohol, though, then that one drink could immensely impact their ability to drive. Therefore, they are not being irresponsible and they are not looking to make a bad situation, but by choosing to drive, they could be involved in a drug and alcohol interaction Howard County DUI.

In this case, it is important that the person communicates with their doctor and asks the right questions to prevent such an incident from happening. However, that is, unfortunately, on the individual to see how their body reacts or be warned that they should not mix the medication with alcohol.

Additionally, a lot of pharmacists will put the warning on the side of a drug to not mix it with alcohol, so it is up to the person taking the drug to heed that warning.

Litigation

Unfortunately, if looking how to litigate this, a person cannot argue that it was an involuntary intoxication because the person voluntarily took that drink while they had a drug in their system. It certainly can be litigated that the person’s intent was not there, but it can be very difficult to get that burden high enough.

Therefore, in order to avoid a Howard County DUI drug and alcohol interaction, it is important that a person understands the drug that they are taking and refrains from alcohol if the medication they are taking has an alcohol warning.