It’s a growing and dangerous trend -- motorists driving while high on prescription drugs.
The drugs are perfectly legal, but not while you're driving.
Let’s face it, we Americans take a lot of pills. There's a pill for just about everything. When used properly, they ease pain, extend life, curb depression and treat cancer. But the dirty little secret is, doctor’s prescription or not, pop a pill and drive and you could end in jail cell, right next to drunk driver.
I understand that your doctor gave you some morphine pills for your pain. And I understand you have depression and you're taking some anti-depressants. And I understand that you have anxiety and you're taking anti anxiety pills. But you combine all those together and you should not be driving a car... let alone walk.
When it comes to prescription drugs, it’s always happy hour and the prescription impairment is all hours of the day, not just when the bars close.
In Fresno, a mom dropping off her kids for school passed out and had a minor accident. It was determined that she was under the influence of prescription drugs.
She wasn't bar hopping; she was dropping off her kids at school, but she was arrested in the school parking lot… in front of the kids.
It was quite a wake-up call. She felt it was okay to take her prescription medication and drive, but it’s not.
DUI's aren't just for drunks anymore. “They're kind of offended when we place them under arrest for DUI," said Sgt. Bruce Owen with the Fresno Police Department.
Fresno Police Chief Jerry Dyer said, “We're hoping the good that comes from this is that folks will realize the seriousness of operating a vehicle under the influence of whether it is alcohol or a prescription drug.”
Last year, 68-year-old Douglas Lindsey was on a prescription drug pain pill when he crashed into a car carrying 16-year-old Shaela Warkentin. The crash left her blind.
Lindsey, an otherwise good citizen with no priors, is now facing felony charges for a D.U.I. causing bodily injury.
Lindsey has been taking prescription pain pills for years and for police, lawyers and persecutors, his case and thousands of others just like it are becoming the ‘new norm’.
Proving a suspected drunk driver is under the influence is relatively simple but proving impairment on prescriptions drugs can be tricky. “Just because you have a drug in your system at the time, doesn't necessarily mean that you can be found guilty of driving under the influence,” said defense lawyer Mark Broughton.
Broughton, who is not connected with the Lindsey case, points out that cops already know… “It is a more difficult crime to detect.”
But good detection can lead to a good conviction. “Not being able to follow simple directions or looking like their lost,” said Officer Michael Roberts, one of a growing number of certified experts in prescription drug detection. “Someone who's taken too much prescription meds generally acts like their drunk,” said Roberts.
He'll check your eyes first… it’s like the smell of booze on a drunk and your eyes will give you away. “See if they have something called nystagmus, which means their eyes will bounce when it gets out to the far extreme angles,” said Roberts.
Per his training, he follows a strict protocol:
Are your pupils dilated or uneven? Which eye? How much?
He'll check your pulse -- three times and your blood pressure too because some drugs elevate blood pressure while others lower it.
Blood work is done too.
So why all the tests and paperwork? Because the district attorney will need it. “There's probably more hurdles in a DUI drug case,” said Deputy District Attorney Dennis Verzosa.
Verzosa says both DUI drug and alcohol cases are persecuted in a similar way but yet are very different. There are established standards for what constitutes a drunk driver. They're called Per Se Laws and all 50 states have them. It’s a crime to drive with a blood alcohol concentration above 0.08% but when it comes to per se laws for prescription drugs, only 15 states have established standards and California is not one of them.
Pharmacist Khoa Huynh says side effects, drug interaction, absorption rates and the patient history are all factors in potential side effects. “Medication can be re-absorbed into our system, giving us a longer or extended side effect.”
Sleeping pills can leave a residual effect in the morning and that impairs a driver.
Antidepressants can sedate a driver; the impairment is similar to drunk driver.
10 mg of a tranquilizer is the equivalent of a blood-alcohol concentration of 0.10.
Pain pills like the medication Douglas Lindsey was on the night of his crash can cause impairment similar to morphine and codeine.
Delayed reaction and coordination are the buzz words for many prescription pills.
The bottom line is you need to listen to your doctor and your pharmacists.
If you must take medication, be aware of the side effects, which are sometimes very unintended side effects. Just ask Ken Warkentin, Shaela's dad. “If you need that heavy of a medication, you need to let somebody else drive. One bad choice and your life and another person's life could be forever altered,” said Ken.
So while the courts grapple with the legal definition of drug impairment while driving, cops on the street like Andrew Rochin seem to have it already figured out. “The DUI on prescription drugs is much like the DUI on alcohol -- minus the smell.”
