Careful with benzos, driving and insurance companies

[NomiTramadol]

Hello,

I wanna warn about the new test drug labs Police is using to make drug controls on the road that detect Benzodiazepines use. No matter if it's alprazolam or diazepam. In many european countries that means driving under the influence of drugs and that use to carry a high fine or even prison if you are involved in an accident with injured people.

Anyone taking benzos should have a prescription or a paper from an official GP saying you need to take that drug or you take it ocassionaly to avoid possible legal problems. Not having any documents, if you have an accident with another car or someone walking the insurance company highly likely will refuse to pay anything as you were driving "under the influence" because this drug-test are not like alcohol, they can detect if you took a diazepam 5mg pill one week ago and it only shows "under the influence".

Another mention is about Tramadol, I had a drug-test yesterday and it didn't show anything in the OPPIUM or Derivates part of the test. Probably because it's synthetic but maybe they will add some specific test for Tramadol in the future. I thought it was already included in new machines and I was prepared to explain the police my situation and to make an official declaration from the very first time saying Im chronic pain patient using Tramadol, that Im not forbidden to drive to defend myself when the definitive results come from the lab.

My general advice is that if you take any of those drugs, have some document from any doctor cause otherwise you can have a hard time on a court trial or a massive headache if your insurance company refuse to pay the bill if you were involved in an accident and the police sent a "possitive on _______" for Benzos. Demonstrating you were not under the influence can be impossible as there isn't a limit like in alcohol, at least in Europe and Judges are not very familiar with those medicines.

Stay safe, always.

 

[Veejur]

@NomiTramadol They already have a Tram piss test here in US, just FYI

 

[NomiTramadol]

@Veejur Wow, I hope it doesn't come too early to Europe but I think it will be inevitable. But it is penalised to drive while using Tramadol, like they consider it's a drug like alcohol or cocaine? Here in Europe there are much wider restrictions for companies for example to make drug tests but at the end we will end probably having to send a copy of your full genetic code with our application to work xD

 

[Mrob1982]

Hello,

I wanna warn about the new test drug labs Police is using to make drug controls on the road that detect Benzodiazepines use. No matter if it's alprazolam or diazepam. In many european countries that means driving under the influence of drugs and that use to carry a high fine or even prison if you are involved in an accident with injured people.

Anyone taking benzos should have a prescription or a paper from an official GP saying you need to take that drug or you take it ocassionaly to avoid possible legal problems. Not having any documents, if you have an accident with another car or someone walking the insurance company highly likely will refuse to pay anything as you were driving "under the influence" because this drug-test are not like alcohol, they can detect if you took a diazepam 5mg pill one week ago and it only shows "under the influence".

Another mention is about Tramadol, I had a drug-test yesterday and it didn't show anything in the OPPIUM or Derivates part of the test. Probably because it's synthetic but maybe they will add some specific test for Tramadol in the future. I thought it was already included in new machines and I was prepared to explain the police my situation and to make an official declaration from the very first time saying Im chronic pain patient using Tramadol, that Im not forbidden to drive to defend myself when the definitive results come from the lab.

My general advice is that if you take any of those drugs, have some document from any doctor cause otherwise you can have a hard time on a court trial or a massive headache if your insurance company refuse to pay the bill if you were involved in an accident and the police sent a "possitive on _______" for Benzos. Demonstrating you were not under the influence can be impossible as there isn't a limit like in alcohol, at least in Europe and Judges are not very familiar with those medicines.

Stay safe, always.

Can I just ask where abouts you're from?

 

[john66]

In my state you have to do the breath test, but do not have to do a urine test. Never talk to the police

 

[Little Alex]

Can "they " find out in other ways than getting into traffic stops what a person takes? can they just "find out" from the pharmacy?

I never ever say yes to a license renewal when they ask what I take etc. , it won't be long there will be no transparency

 

[NomiTramadol]

@Alexander De Large Apparently no, or in theory but... I wouldn't trust at all my government. So VPN and all security tools are a must at least for me. We can get benefit of that meanwhile there are still millions of people don't taking care of their data.

 

[john66]

I think they can find out anything under a subpoena if there was damages or injuries. Never talk to cops

 

[Little Alex]

The DL facility in my state asks the question "do you take any Rx meds that would impair" ...every time you renew . I was just wondering when privacy would go out the door completely and the DL/State can just look into the RX monitoring site and send us summary DUI's in the mail

 

[Juju62861]

I think it will likely depend on your level of intoxication- not just that you have them in your system. Some people will show positive for Diazepam weeks after taking it, due to the long half life of its' metabolites, but they will be able to draw a blood test and see if you're over the therapeutic limit- which will likely determine legal action (as it should!)...I've been a paramedic for a decade and have ZERO sympathy for those whom use/drive.

 

[spex]

@Juju62861 so a person who took a prescribed dosage of a sleep medication, for example, got up 8 hours later, drove somewhere 12 hours after that, then got into an accident somehow, is classified as ‘dui’ if they test positive?

I still don’t understand this: there’s a big difference between testing positive for a medication and being ‘under the influence’ of that medication. It’s not like alcohol but the situation seems to be handled the same way.

 

[Bella38]

@NomiTramadol They already have a Tram piss test here in US, just FYI

Yea but the urine drug screen has to have Tramadol included in the panel and most common drug screens for employment do not… I process urine drug screens in a lab and Tramadol is not commonly added in a panel … What I do see is Sometimes is Tramadol will pop a non negative under amphetamine or pcp then it’s sent off to lab for confirmation . I see a lot reflect Tramadol in the confirmation processing ..

For a 5 or regular 10 panel Tramadol don’t trigger a positive. Now if you are gaining employment with high security clearance (LE) most of those do have Tramadol included on the screening .

 

[DB Dicey]

@NomiTramadol They already have a Tram piss test here in US, just FYI

Yea but the urine drug screen has to have Tramadol included in the panel and most common drug screens for employment do not… I process urine drug screens in a lab and Tramadol is not commonly added in a panel … What I do see is Sometimes is Tramadol will pop a non negative under amphetamine or pcp then it’s sent off to lab for confirmation . I see a lot reflect Tramadol in the confirmation processing ..

For a 5 or regular 10 panel Tramadol don’t trigger a positive. Now if you are gaining employment with high security clearance (LE) most of those do have Tramadol included on the screening .

 

[DB Dicey]

I suppose most people remember the 2016 case where the guy was charged for driving under the influence of caffeine which got dropped. Point being, you can be charged for any driving under influence of any drug if it impairs in some if not most places. Might get laughed out of court.

 

[Atron]

I think it will likely depend on your level of intoxication- not just that you have them in your system. Some people will show positive for Diazepam weeks after taking it, due to the long half life of its' metabolites, but they will be able to draw a blood test and see if you're over the therapeutic limit- which will likely determine legal action (as it should!)...I've been a paramedic for a decade and have ZERO sympathy for those whom use/drive.

I agree with you that in many cases it should depend on the amount present in the person.

In cases where an illegal substance is detected or a substance that a person doesn’t have a prescription for, the amount matters less since the use won’t be considered therapeutic.

If someone does have a prescription, the use can be considered therapeutic, but that doesn’t rule out the fact that therapeutic use is some cases can cause intoxication.

Sometimes there can be a gray area. Maybe someone is taking a therapeutic medication as prescribed, but it reduces that person’s reaction time by a fraction of a second.

Many factors probably depend on where you live. For example, it often depends on if the officer thinks a person is intoxicated in which case they may conduct tests.

 

[CountryKing]

Which country are you from, in mine they do not test for benzos

 

[Little Alex]

I thought they tested for benzos the world over?