Can I be charged with DUI if I wasn’t drinking alcohol?

Answer:
In Georgia, the answer is absolutely yes. You can be charged with driving under the influence without having consumed any alcohol at all — this is known as DUI drugs or DUI toxic vapors. Charges can stem from prescription medications, marijuana, any controlled substance, or virtually any substance, as long as the government alleges and can prove it made you a less safe driver. That doesn’t guarantee a conviction, but it does mean the charge can be brought. If this is your situation and you’re in our area, give us a call.

Georgia’s DUI Law Covers More Than Alcohol

O.C.G.A. § 40-6-391 lays out several separate ways to charge DUI, and alcohol is only one of them. Subsection (a)(2) covers driving under the influence of any drug — prescription or not — to the extent it makes you a less safe driver. Subsection (a)(3) covers toxic vapors like glue or aerosols, and (a)(4) covers driving under the combined influence of two or more of these substances at once. None of these require a drop of alcohol to be involved.

A Prescription Doesn’t Automatically Protect You

Taking a medication exactly as your doctor prescribed it doesn’t put you outside the reach of this law. O.C.G.A. § 40-6-391(b) specifically states that being legally entitled to use a drug isn’t a defense on its own — the question is whether that drug actually left you unable to drive safely. A legal prescription can matter a great deal to how a case is defended, but it isn’t an automatic shield against the charge itself.

Marijuana Has Its Own Complicated History

Marijuana DUI in Georgia has a legal backstory worth knowing. The law once allowed a “per se” marijuana charge under O.C.G.A. § 40-6-391(a)(6), meaning any detectable amount of marijuana or its metabolites in your blood or urine was enough on its own, whether or not you were actually impaired. In Love v. State, 271 Ga. 398 (1999), the Georgia Supreme Court struck that provision down as an equal protection violation, because it punished unimpaired drivers differently depending on whether their marijuana use happened to be legally sanctioned. The practical result is that marijuana DUI cases in Georgia are now proven the same way alcohol “less safe” cases are — through evidence of actual impairment, not just a lab result showing marijuana was present.

Toxic Vapors: The Least-Known DUI Category

Few people think of huffing glue or aerosols as a DUI issue, but O.C.G.A. § 40-6-391(a)(3) covers exactly that. Like the drug provision, it requires the state to show the substance actually made you less safe behind the wheel — there’s no chemical test threshold involved, since there’s no standardized way to measure impairment from vapors the way there is for alcohol.

How the State Proves a Drug DUI Without a Legal Number

Because most drug and toxic-vapor DUI charges don’t hinge on a specific number the way alcohol per se charges do, the state leans heavily on the same kind of evidence used in any less-safe case: how you were driving, field sobriety test performance, an officer’s observations, and often a drug recognition evaluation by a specially trained officer. All of that evidence is subjective, and all of it can be challenged.

What to Do Next

If this is your situation and you’re in our area, give us a call.

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Brett and his team were beyond supportive, helpful, gracious, caring and knowledgeable! We went through the most challenging and difficult time in our life and he was there every step of the way. With results we could never have imagined but definitely prayed for.

Not to mention his level of professionalism. From the first time we spoke to the first time we saw him in court. He stood out from almost every other attorney there. We were so appreciative that our attorney looked and was so professional, pulled together and prepared. When so many others were none of these things.

Thank you just doesn’t seem like enough to convey our feelings and appreciation.

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5 Star Rating

I tried to write this several times and it brought me to tears. First may I say this has been the hardest three years of my life. Five lawyers I interviewed and none even understood the law as it applied to my case. So I thought I would try one more and it was Brett. From our first conversation together I knew he understood the law and was the perfect one for the case. I want to say how he prepared the case and presented it, achieving a full dismissal and ruling the police violated my first amendment rights. Complete genius!!!!

If you're reading this review and unsure, stop...call Brett. He always returned my call or texts within a couple hours, never more than 24 hours. He was always courteous and knowledgeable, trust me he talked me off the ledge a couple times. I would have given him 10 stars but 5 was the only option. Thank you Brett for all you did for me!!!!!