Impairment

“So let's take Ambien for example. Ambien is, I'm sure a lot of you have heard, people take Ambien and then they'll wind up downstairs raiding the kitchen fridge, eating a whole bunch of stuff and not remembering it. That's one of the dangers with Ambien is it's one of those more powerful prescription medications. So I've had clients who have actually come and been charged with DUI for having an Ambien in their system, even though it's a prescribed medication, even though we show that they are allowed to have that in their bloodstream, it means that you can still be impaired.”

“The common misconception, though, is people think well, if I'm under that 0.08 then I'm fine. For the DUI you are, but the problem is in Colorado we also have what's called a DWAI, that's driving while ability impaired. For DWAI, it's not where you're driving so that you're so impaired that you can't maybe function, or get home to the level you are at a DUI, but driving while ability impaired means that you're impaired to the slightest degree. And that's still a crime here in Colorado. So, driving with any kind of impairment whatsoever is not a great idea, let's just put that out there. But legally if you are at a 0.05 to a 0.08 you can be criminally charged for driving while ability impaired.”

“driving while ability impaired means that you're impaired to the slightest degree. And that's still a crime here in Colorado.”