Tag: drunk driving
What To Know About Drunk Driving And  Drug Charges

What To Know About Drunk Driving And  Drug Charges

Driving under the influence of drugs and alcohol is a leading cause of accidents throughout the United States, so it can rightly attract a number of charges. These charges and consequences vary by state, although there are a few that may be similar. Have a look below to see some information on DUI and drug charges that may be helpful to you.

DUI and Drug Violations

The different DUI laws in existence aim to prevent people from taking the risk of driving while under the influence in the first place. This is because of the undeniable risk associated with doing so. Most states have a legal blood alcohol concentration of 0.08 percent or more, with Utah currently having a limit of 0.05 percent.

When arrested for driving with a high concentration of alcohol in your blood, there are a number of possible consequences. These depend on the severity of the action you've taken and whether you've caused harm and damage. In 2020, there were more than 5,000 arrests for narcotic or drug violations throughout the state of Massachusetts, according to a recent Crime Statistics report. These numbers show that law enforcement is hard at work trying to contain the issue of intoxication and the consequences that follow.

Arrests and Charges

When arrested for a drug-related charge, there are a number of possible consequences as mentioned. This means that you may be charged with a felony or a misdemeanor, both serious when considering your future. Different states will also have different degrees of charges attached to them, and they include fines and jail time which contribute to the roughly 4.9 million people who are arrested and booked each year.

When you drive while impaired, whether by illicit drugs, alcohol, or even prescription drugs that you have been prescribed by your doctor, you still run the risk of getting arrested and charged. This is especially true if you cause harm or damage while driving, as there are no exemptions for driving while impaired. For this reason, it's important to ensure that you know the effects of different drugs so you can avoid getting into trouble because of using them.

Possible Penalties

For some cases of DUI, the offenders can be sentenced by the judge to complete a probation term. This may last for 12 months, but it's possible to get a term of up to three years or more. The court provides a set of conditions by which you must abide or risk being slapped with additional penalties. DUI arrests will also often result in administrative license suspensions for different lengths of time.

People found to have blood alcohol content above .16 can face a prison sentence between three days and six months. This is on top of a $1,000 to $5,000 fine and a one-year suspension of their drivers' license. It's important to note that while first-time offenders will often receive lighter sentences, the penalty given will depend on the damage caused as a result of driving while under the influence. Repeat offenders will receive harsher penalties, including longer jail terms and longer or even permanent license suspensions. This will be in a bid to improve road safety for the population while discouraging others from taking a similar course of action.

Driving under the influence or driving while intoxicated, as it's called in different states, is a serious matter. Even if it does not lead to serious harm and destruction of property, it's still something that everyone should do their best to avoid. The information above should help you understand a bit more about the different penalties you may face when you drive under the influence. To get the best chance of pleading your case in the event that you're arrested, enlist the services of a professional DUI attorney with experience enough to assist you.

State Police Covered Up DUI Bust Of Kansas Senate GOP Leader

State Police Covered Up DUI Bust Of Kansas Senate GOP Leader

TOPEKA, Kansas — Police did not complete an offense report during or after the arrest of Kansas Senate Majority Leader Gene Suellentrop on suspicion of DUI, fleeing police, and driving the wrong way on an interstate, the Kansas Highway Patrol (KHP) said Thursday. Following Suellentrop's arrest last week, the KHP denied the majority of The Kansas City Star's requests for records on the arrest and investigation. The one document that KHP general counsel Luther Ganieney said would be public is the front page of the Kansas Standard Offense Report (KSOR), which details the suspected offense, the na...

What Makes A Heavy Drinker?

What Makes A Heavy Drinker?

There’s been a significant rise in “heavy drinking” among Americans, according to a new study out of the University of Washington.

But what do these researchers mean by “heavy drinking”? wine lovers must ask. For a woman, heavy drinking is defined as more than one glass of wine a day. For men, it’s more than two. Other definitions of heavy drinking use similar measures. But hmm.

I’m often a heavy drinker by these lights, but not by my lights. Many days, I’ll have two glasses of wine. Occasionally, I’ll have three. I don’t think that’s a big deal, and I don’t see myself in any kind of denial.

Is the Frenchwoman who takes a glass of rosé with lunch and a cabernet at dinner a “heavy drinker”? And if she should add an aperitif before dinner and a dash of cognac when the meal ends two hours later — that is, consume four alcoholic beverages in the course of 24 hours — does that make her a “binge drinker,” as many would define her?

Even doctors pointing to the cardiac benefits of moderate consumption urge people to not start drinking for health reasons. Well, why not, unless the person is addicted to alcohol?

Other healthy adults should be able to split a bottle of wine with a friend without being told they are headed to the gutter. Somewhere in our society’s gut lives the notion of alcohol as inherently evil.

When experts talk about the one-drink-a-day limit for a woman, they ignore vast differences in the sizes, ages and health conditions of the sisterhood’s members.

“I can’t drink anything,” my 90-year-old aunt Shirley told me during a recent dinner out, “but would you like another glass of white?”

Aunt Shirley has only 102 pounds on her but a ton of wisdom.

Even getting tipsy now and then should be the drinker’s own business, assuming that he or she doesn’t then drive. On that subject, campaigns against drunken driving have succeeded in sharply reducing alcohol-fueled fatalities on the road. Unfortunately, the modern-day temperance movement has gotten into its head that the way to push these numbers still lower is to make alcoholic beverages more expensive through higher taxes.

In truth, the dangerous drivers are typically alcoholics with repeated arrests and blood alcohol levels that are double the legal maximum or more. They are not real sensitive to the price of the substance.

Promoting higher prices as a response to campus binge drinking is also a non-solution. The problem of students’ downing rotgut until they pass out is not just of too much alcohol but of too little civilization.

Giancarlo Gariglio, editor-in-chief of Slow Wine magazine, touched on this in his criticisms of a European Union plan to discourage binge drinking with minimum prices and regulated alcoholic percentages. His big complaint was it lumped artisanal wines with industrial, pre-mixed alcohol beverages.

“Without culture,” he wrote, “we drink poorly and we don’t even enjoy ourselves, because we gulp down rubbish.”

Taxes on alcohol are, of course, regressive. The Beer Institute, an industry trade group, reports that beer drinkers pay $5.6 billion a year in hidden excise taxes alone — hidden because they are levied at the brewery.

Low- and middle-income Americans are beer’s chief consumers. The institute estimates that households earning less than $50,000 per year pay half of beer taxes.

The battle is on to define moderate drinking. If that means dishing out the same guidelines to a skinny Nancy Reagan at 93 and a large Melissa McCarthy at 44, then they’re not going to say much.

Follow Froma Harrop on Twitter @FromaHarrop. She can be reached at fharrop@gmail.com. To find out more about Froma Harrop and read features by other Creators writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Web page at www.creators.com. 

Photo: Robert S. Donovan via Flickr