Breath and Urine Testing
Breath Tests:
Did you know that breath testing is only done AFTER you have been arrested for DUI? The only reason why police ask you for a breath test is to collect evidence to be used against you in court. Taking a breath test will not help you avoid a DUI arrest. In fact, there are many cases where people have been arrested for DUI, blown below the legal limit of 0.08., and were still prosecuted.
All breath tests are performed at a local police station and many are even recorded on video. After you have been arrested, police will transport you to a special breath testing facility. Once there, you should be observed for a minimum if 20 minutes to make sure you do not regurgitate any stomach contents into your mouth – as this would render test results invalid. During this time the arresting officer will typically fill out police reports, property receipts, and other documents.
Thereafter you will be placed on camera and asked to provide a breath sample. If you refuse, the police will then read you “Florida’s Implied Consent Warnings.” In those warnings, a person is advised that a first refusal to submit to testing will result in a suspension of their driver’s license for 12 months. A second refusal will be charged as a first degree misdemeanor and will also result in a suspension of their driver’s license for 18 months.
If the DUI suspect then agrees to provide a breath sample, they are escorted off camera (in most cases) and sat down before an Intoxylizer machine. The machine will be activated by a certified breath test operator, who may even be the police officer who arrested you or a different person, and then you will be asked to provide two breath samples by blowing in a tube for approximately 20 seconds each.
After the two samples are taken, a small card is printed with the results, the date, time, and the suspect’s name, and the breath test operator.
Urine Tests:
However, DUI can be committed when a person is impaired by narcotics, illicit drugs, prescription medication, or certain chemical substances. In fact, Florida’s DUI law is officially called “Driving Under the Influence of Alcoholic Beverages, Chemical Substances, or Controlled Substances.”
“Controlled Substances” means prescription drugs – and as far as a DUI charge goes, it makes no difference whether you have a prescription or not, and whether or not you took the prescribed dosage. If the controlled substance has impaired your ability to drive, you can be convicted of DUI. If you don’t have a prescription, and the drugs are in your car, you can face an additional charge of Possession of a Controlled Substance Without Prescription.
It may seem harsh, but the penalties for a DUI conviction for driving under the influence of a drug that your doctor prescribed for you are the same as the penalties for driving with a blood alcohol content (BAC) above the legal limit of .08, or for driving under the influence of illegal drugs like marijuana or heroin. The penalties can include fines, community service, vehicle impoundment, driver’s license suspension, jail time, etc. See our article DUI Penalties for more information.
The prescription drugs that most commonly can result in a DUI charge are Narcotic Analgesics and Central Nervous System (CNS) Depressants.
Narcotic Analgesics are drugs used to control severe pain. Sometimes they may be prescribed to treat short-term pain, like after a root canal or other dental surgery. Sometimes they may be prescribed for long term usage: it’s estimated that 50 million Americans – one in six people – suffer from chronic pain. For many of these people, powerful narcotic drugs are the only way to control terrible pain. Drugs in this class include morphine, methadone, oxycodone, codeine, and fentanyl.
CNS Depressants are drugs that may be used to slow down the brain’s activity. They are often prescribed to treat anxiety, insomnia, and panic attacks, among other conditions. These are also very widely prescribed drugs. Valium is in this class of drug, and from 1969 to 1982 it was the top selling drug in America. Other drugs in this class include Xanax, barbiturates such as Seconal and Quaaludes.
Unlike for alcohol, there are no defined amounts of controlled substances that you can have in your system to be automatically considered “impaired.” The police will have to prove that your driving was impaired by the drug, and that is not always easy to prove.
While CNS Depressants and Narcotic Analgesics are indeed powerful drugs that cause drowsiness and impair your driving, the body also develops a tolerance to these drugs after a few weeks. It’s quite possible to drive safely while taking these drugs if your body has adapted.
For these reasons, law enforcement is equipped to perform urine testing when a DUI case does not involve alcohol. Requests for a urine sample will often times come after a DUI arrestee has given a breath test, but blew 0.00 or so blew so low below the legal limit for alcohol that the officer believed he/she was impaired by drugs. In other cases, law enforcement may suspect drug impairment by finding drugs in the car, a pill bottle, by smelling the odor of burnt cannabis, or by the DUI suspect’s own admission.
Blood Testing
Unlike breath and urine testing, blood testing is used very rarely in DUI cases. In fact, the only time police can compel you to give a blood sample is after an accident involving serious bodily injury or death. This is referred to as a mandatory blood draw. Once collected, two vials containing your blood will be sent the Medical Examiner’s Office for analysis by their toxicology department. Within approximately 30 days, a report will be generated that details their findings, if any.