Are There Laws Against Drugged Driving

For many people facing uncontrolled substance abuse and addiction in their own lives, things quickly grow very complicated. Your substance abuse causes major financial, health and legal problems. For most people who suffer alcohol addiction, a DUI seems inevitable. But are there laws against drugged driving and do many people experience those as part of their drug addiction?

About Drugged Driving

Mixing drugs and driving is never safe. This holds true for any drug, even marijuana or legally prescribed medications. From these behaviors, you risk being charged with drugged driving, if you do not hurt yourself or someone else first.

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), one in five motorists killed in auto accidents in 2009 were engaging in drugged driving. About 10 million people drive while under the influence of illegal drugs each year.

The drugs people use affect each individually. This means no two people experience drugs in the exact, same way. This makes impaired judgment, alertness, motor skills and concentration hard to predict for any drug. Illicit drugs, in particular, cause these effects but without clear predictability as to when and how the effects will materialize.

When you suffer impairment, the last place you should be is behind the wheel of a car. If not caught by police first, driving on drugs proves deadly for many people each year.

How Police Catch You Driving While Drugged

Obviously, you make poor decisions when impaired by drugs or alcohol. Drugged driving is one such bad decision.

Police easily detect blood alcohol concentration through blood or urine tests. Having a BAC of 0.08 percent or higher proves you engaged in drunk driving. But drug testing is not as clear when it comes to driving while impaired.

Marijuana components stay in your system for up to five weeks after using the drug. Cocaine leaves your body more quickly, in one or two days. This makes catching drugged drivers more difficult than for alcohol DUIs, but not impossible. Police use many methods, including drug recognition experts, urine tests and blood samples.

In Sweden, researchers work each day to develop more precise testing methods for police to catch drivers under the influence of drugs. Meanwhile, far too many drugged drivers slip through the system and cause deadly auto accidents.

Preventing Your Own Drug-Related Legal Problems

The only way to prevent experiencing a drugged driving or drug-related legal problem is to undergo drug detox and rehab to stop the problem in its tracks. With this help from a quality, accredited treatment program, you also end your risk of death or hurting others because of your psychoactive drugs use or other substance abuse.

Quality drug detox and rehab programs include:

• Joint Commission accreditation
• Medical detox program
• Residential, PHP, IOP
• Extended care and aftercare treatment
• Holistic healing methods, such as art, music, fitness, yoga, and nutrition
• Experiential therapies, like a ropes course, hiking, and bowling therapy
• Behavioral therapies, such as CBT, EMDR, and DBT

Your best options for treatment also include drugged driving prevention through group education about addiction. These levels of care and treatment methods take place at Beaches Recovery in Jacksonville, Florida. Call Beaches Recovery now at 866.605.0532 to learn about ending your drug addiction.