New Jersey DUI Drug Blood Alcohol Test
Reader’s Question:
My sister was charged with DUI after being pulled over for speeding and crossing the center line here in New Jersey. She failed the FST’s administered on her. She admitted to me that she took illegal drugs that night. The blood test at the local hospital did not show any cocaine was in her system. How come the police still charged her?
Nash
Newark, NJ
New Jersey DUI law for drugs may sometimes be tricky. But just to clarify some things, a person can be charged with DUI in New Jersey if caught driving with a ‘hangover,’ but a different kind of hangover, drug hangover that is. Drivers can be charged with DUI even if the drug is no longer actively in the system but the driver is still feeling its after-effects.
Driving under the influence of drugs has traditionally been interpreted as applying to when the substance is pharmacologically active in a person’s system. But it was expanded in the recent appellate ruling, which was prompted by the following DUI case in New Jersey.
The blood test on your sister may not have shown any cocaine was in her system but it can reveal that she was still ‘high’ from the drug. Cocaine only remains in the system a few hours after ingestion but the blood test may reveal traces of a metabolite of cocaine.
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