Positive Urine Test Results for Your DUI
Imagine you get pulled over by the police. You're not drunk and you're not high, but for some reason the cops think you are. Despite your protests that you're completely sober, somehow you end up arrested and taken to the police station. There the police have you take the breath test, which comes back clear. You think everything will soon be cleared up, but then they have you take a urine test. Not worried, because you are not on any drugs, you give a urine sample. But what happens when urine test results come back positive?
Now you are in the situation where the police says you were intoxicated, and there are positive drug test results that appear to show you were on drugs. How is that possible? The problem is that urine tests are one of the least reliable testing methods in DUI cases. Luckily for you, an arrest is not the same thing as a conviction. It doesn't have to be the cop's word against yours. You have the law on your side. Your Atlanta DUI lawyer can challenge your urine test results, and use an expert to explain to the jury the problem with relying on urine test results, which can be so unreliable.
Urine Test False Positives
Urine tests, like all chemical testing, is subject to human error. If the police officer, or whoever was handling the urine sample anytime through the collection to analysis process didn't follow procedures, the sample could be tainted or mixed up with someone else's sample. This could result in a positive drug or alcohol result even when the driver had no drugs in their system.
Additionally, a number of common prescription medications can give false-positive urine drug screen results, even when the driver was not impaired and was taking the legal prescriptions days before. Patients taking commonly used medications can show positive drug results for amphetamine and methamphetamine use. They can also test positive for methadone, opioids, phencyclidine, barbiturates, cannabinoids, and benzodiazepines.
Prescription and even non-prescription medications can be responsible for false positives in drug tests. Medications which can trigger false positives include antihistamines, antidepressants, antibiotics, analgesics, and antipsychotics. Even ibuprofen, naproxen, and nonprescription nasal inhalers can show a driver is positive for drugs in a DUI urine test.
Urine tests are not as common as breath or blood testing in Georgia DUI cases, but police still routinely use urine tests when they suspect drug impairment, or if their breath test machines aren't working properly.
Another problem with urine testing is that some drugs remain in your system for days or weeks after use. A positive urine test for marijuana may come days after you last consumed the drug. The prosecutors in your case may try and use the positive drug test results to say it cause your impairment, even long after the effects of the drugs wore off. Your Atlanta DUI lawyer won't just stand by, but they will challenge these arguments, challenge urine test results, and use the law to your advantage. You should be convicted of a DUI if you were not actually impaired.
Alcohol or Drug DUI Defense Lawyer
Before you decide to plead guilty to a DUI, be prepared for the penalties and consequences associated with a DUI conviction. Just because a urine test shows positive results for drugs or alcohol does not mean that you were impaired. Contact an Atlanta DUI defense lawyer who will fight your DUI charges based on urine, breath or blood chemical testing. Make sure your DUI arrest doesn't end up costing you your driver's license and more. Contact our office today, so we can discuss your arrest, and how to fight to keep a conviction off your criminal record.