Session 31 – Other Drugs and Driving

Besides alcohol, there are many other things that can affect your ability to drive safely. Many prescription drugs and even drugs you can buy without a prescription for headaches, colds, hay fever or other allergies or those to calm nerves can make you drowsy and affect your driving. Pep pills, “uppers,” and diet pills can make you feel more alert for a short time. Later, however, they can cause you to be nervous, dizzy, and unable to concentrate and they can affect your vision. Prescription drugs can affect your reflexes, judgment, vision and alertness in ways similar to alcohol.

If you will be driving before you take a drug, check the label for warnings about its side effects. If you are not sure whether it is safe to take the drug and drive, ask your doctor or pharmacist about any side effects.

Never drink alcohol while you are taking drugs. Drugs could multiply the effects of alcohol or have additional effects of their own. These effects not only reduce your ability to be a safe driver, but also could cause serious health problems, even death.

It is illegal to drive under the influence of any drugs (including prescription drugs) that may negatively affect your driving. Under Wisconsin’s Drugged Driving law, use of ANY measurable amount of a controlled substance is considered to be operating impaired and will be treated the same as an Operating While Intoxicated (OWI) offense. Examples of restricted controlled substances are marijuana, heroin, LSD, PCP, cocaine, hallucinogens, narcotics and methamphetamine.

Illegal drugs affect your ability to be a safe driver and are not good for your health. For example, studies have shown that people who use marijuana make more mistakes, have more trouble adjusting to glare and get arrested for traffic violations more often than other drivers.

If you are stopped and an officer believes you are under the influence of a controlled substance, they may ask you to take a blood test, which will be used to identify a detectable amount of a controlled substance. Refusal to take this blood test will be treated the same as refusal to take a test for alcohol. Your license will be revoked.

Should you have a valid prescription for a controlled substance, you can claim a defense by providing proof you had a valid prescription for that drug at the time of the incident.