Today the Minnesota Court of Appeals ruled that the State of Minnesota can revoke a person’s driving privileges for testing positive for any amount of a schedule I or II Controlled Substance (examples include Adderall, Concerta, Dilaudid, Oxycontin, Percocet, and many more) even if they are taking the medication as prescribed by a doctor. See Dornbusch v. Commissioner of Public Safety, A14-1236, http://www.mncourts.gov/opinions/coa/current/opa141236-030215.pdf .
A driver can be charged with the crime of DWI under 7 scenarios. Of those 7 scenarios, two include controlled substances. The first is when a driver is under the influence of a controlled substance, or the controlled substance the driver took impaired their ability to drive. The second is when the driver’s body contains ANY amount of a controlled substance listed in Schedule I or II, or its metabolite (other than marijuana or tetrahydrocannabinols).
The good news is that there is a defense to the criminal charge of the presence of a controlled substance in a driver’s body. To raise this defense, the burden is on the driver to prove (by a preponderance of the evidence) that they took the controlled substance pursuant to a valid prescription that was issued to the driver.
However, in addition to the criminal charges, if a driver has the presence of a schedule I or II controlled substance in their system, a person’s driving privileges will be revoked under the civil Implied Consent law. In the Dornbusch decision, the Minnesota Court of Appeals ruled today that although the prescription drug defense is a defense in a CRIMINAL proceeding, the State can still revoke your driving privileges and the fact that you took the controlled substance pursuant to a valid prescription is NOT a defense in the loss of license proceeding. In other words, if you get pulled over for a DWI and have a schedule I or II controlled substance present in your body in ANY amount, your driver’s license could be revoked, and the fact that you took the controlled substance pursuant to a valid prescription is not a defense!