First, as another poster mentioned, they do need to have a pretext to stop you, i.e. speeding or driving erratically somehow. However, we all know that if they want to stop you, they will find something, no matter how minor (and with crooked cops they can just make something up since they know it's their word against yours).

There are a few problems with a couple of the most popular medications and the determination of whether a driver is 'under the influence' when stopped. With opiates such as hydro, codeine, oxy and others, the side effects--whether you are impaired or not--are the same as with heroin, as heroin is really just another chemical variant of morphine as all the opiate painkillers are. The primary visible sign is pinpoint pupils. With benzos such as valium, they act upon the same brain neurotransmitter (called GABA) as alcohol does, so one has to watch out for being overconfident in your ability to drive and avoid being caught unaware of your own impairment. I'd have to look it up again to verify, but I believe benzos dilate your pupils a bit.

It's hard to give advice since there's really no way to measure 'impairment' unless it's very obvious that you're not in control. With alcohol, at least there's a somewhat accurate and objective measure of impairment, the BAC (blood alcohol content), however arbitrarily those BAC levels may have been set. With prescription meds, particularly benzos and pks, how do you set an objective guideline? I can take a 5mg hydro and barely feel it for pain...however my eyes go ~~zing!~~ and constrict even though I am obviously *not* impaired. The field tests the cops have usually just detect the presence of meds at a minimum concentration (whatever the threshold of the test is), they can't accurately detect how much you took or what the level is in your bloodstream.

This is such a good question to be posted because how CAN they determine if someone's impaired vs. just made a mistake while driving as happens to all of us at one point or another without meds? For one, I certainly wouldn't volunteer ANY information, especially if you don't have any meds/bottle with you or they don't find any, because it will be *very* difficult for them to just pull out of thin air that you might be on a prescription. There's absolutely no reason to tell them that you took anything at all. People get stopped for weaving because they were on their cell, fiddling with the radio, watching the kids instead of the road, etc. etc. It could be said that these activities are just as bad as driving drunk or impaired. Getting back to the action of you being stopped, even though you might be paranoid about the meds you took, just go with the flow, break out your license and insurance card (you do have them easily accessible and neatly folded together in your glove compartment, don't you?), keep the dialogue with the cop down to a minimum, let *him* explain why he stopped *you*, and don't volunteer anything extra. Sometimes I wonder how these 'benadryl' DUIs come up...is it because someone's trying to get out of their ticket by using it as an excuse?

Assuming something goes tragically wrong and you're arrested for one of these laws (I won't call them obscene laws, because there *are* some people I don't want to be driving on the road with...like the granny who's on ten different meds, has a pharmacy in her purse and drives 25mph no matter if she's going through a school zone or lunking along on the freeway), by all means get an attorney. It may help to get your medical records together, particularly with narcotics, to show you have a legit need for the meds and a history of taking them. Showing how long you've been on the meds will also be important, as a good lawyer should be able to bring up the issue of tolerance and knowledge of how the meds affect you, i.e. 'Use Caution While Driving UNTIL You Know...'. It'll be an uphill battle more than likely, but it is absolutely imperative that you fight it!

The best answer in my opinion is 1) don't take the meds before driving if they make you feel drunk or erratic, 2) when you're on meds and driving (for chron pain pts that's about all the time), obey the speed limits, use your signals, be courteous and follow all the rules of the road, make sure your car's in good repair and all turn signals are working, and keep your car legal (registration stickers) and insured at all times, 3) don't get stopped, but if you do, don't volunteer any information, do not admit being even a 'little bit' impaired, don't talk too much, if you do make an error and admit you were speeding or weaving, at least give an excuse that non-medicated people would, like 'was fiddling with the radio' or 'missed my exit and was trying to get over' or whatever a normal person would say. Explain physical symptoms such as pinpoint pups by saying your eyes are adjusting to the sun or you woke up not too long ago (okay, veering off topic here). 4) Contest the ticket, get an attorney, follow his/her advice, get your med records, and fight!

I wonder if there is a way to prove that a dose of the med doesn't impair you--i.e. taking 5mg of hydro and going to a doctor's office for monitoring to show that it doesn't affect you...just guessing there. Unfortunately this legal system is skewed, so instead of the state proving you're guilty, you may have to prove yourself innocent, and with DUI even some of the best attorneys know their best chance is to take a plea

Know your meds, know the side effects and how they'd appear to the outside observer, know yourself and your body, and play it cool and safe.

•--J