ramifications of being drugged

CruisnGrrl

CruisnGrrl

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a friend of mine crashed into a transport trailer (i don't know all the details) after having a two drinks with her cousin and her cousin's friend, she figures she was drugged, she only remembers having 2 drinks and playing pool. doesn't remember getting in her car or anything until waking up in the hospital. now apparently she is with out a licence because of it.

i can understand being held accountable for drinking and driving but where does the law stand where a noxious substance has been administered unbeknownst to the victim?
 
I'm pretty sure the law will say prove it. Absolutly a resonable defense could be made if someone realy was drugged without being aware but the burden would be on them to prove it. I hope she had blood and urine samples taken at the hospital.
 
Can't they do blood tests to check for that? According to CSI your hair actually retains signs of being drugged too.
 
CruisnGrrl said:
a friend of mine crashed into a transport trailer (i don't know all the details) after having a two drinks with her cousin and her cousin's friend, she figures she was drugged, she only remembers having 2 drinks and playing pool. doesn't remember getting in her car or anything until waking up in the hospital. now apparently she is with out a licence because of it.

i can understand being held accountable for drinking and driving but where does the law stand where a noxious substance has been administered unbeknownst to the victim?
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Going to be an uphill battle. If she get's away with it.. it paves the way for a lot more people to (try to) use it as an excuse.
 
Skyler said:
Going to be an uphill battle. If she get's away with it.. it paves the way for a lot more people to (try to) use it as an excuse.
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Without medical testing taken proximal to the incident she will not be able to prove it. I would hope. But if she is a vicitm here then i hope she can however i would worry the same that it would set a precident
 
they would have tested her blood. if they found rhypnol or ghb she might have a case, but if they yanked her license right away she was probably drunk
 
How would she prove that she was drugged? vs. she took the drugs intentionally?
 
caboose483 said:
Can't they do blood tests to check for that? According to CSI your hair actually retains signs of being drugged too.
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LOL. They also get toxicology and DNA tests in 2 minutes, and have REALLY bad one-liners.

SOME drugs will remain in different parts of the body for different periods of time but some are VERY quick to eliminate, such as the date-rape drug GHB which can be completely eliminated from the body in as short as 6 hours.

Two50noob said:
Without medical testing taken proximal to the incident she will not be able to prove it. I would hope. But if she is a vicitm here then i hope she can however i would worry the same that it would set a precident
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Even with the testing, who says she didn't take the drug purposely. The courts will be VERY hesitant to entertain the involuntariness of taking the drug without being able to achieve "absolute proof" (I think that's the term) which exists ABOVE "beyond a reasonable doubt", and IF that standard has ever been achieved, it's certainly rare. Without that level of proof, a dangerous precedent will be set.
 
coyo said:
Even with the testing, who says she didn't take the drug purposely. The courts will be VERY hesitant to entertain the involuntariness of taking the drug without being able to achieve "absolute proof" (I think that's the term) which exists ABOVE "beyond a reasonable doubt", and IF that standard has ever been achieved, it's certainly rare. Without that level of proof, a dangerous precedent will be set.
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and rightly so.. The only way i could see her winning is if it was GBH with the reputation of the drug as being one used for such things but i don't think it is likely. They would also probably have to be other police reports of similar occurrences at the same venue for corroboration
 
In one way I hope your friend gets off because that's a pretty ****** thing to do to someone. On the other hand if it sets a precedent I don't want 16-18 yr old girls carrying around roofies just in case they leave a party a little drunk, cause an accident then pop one at the scene, act disoriented or pass out until the pill kicks in only to get off scott free because someone "drugged" them. Am I giving teens too much credit here?
 
I can only see this being any use if you are under .08 BAC does your freind know what her BAC was?
 
There is a lot of wrong advice and assumptions here. There are not enough details to actually say anything substantial.

But all I will say is that involuntary intoxication can be a effective defence.
 
Scuba Steve said:
I can only see this being any use if you are under .08 BAC does your freind know what her BAC was?
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This is the information. If she was below .08 then she has a case if she can prove their were drugs in her system and not the kind people actually take for fun.
 
CruisnGrrl said:
a friend of mine crashed into a transport trailer (i don't know all the details) after having a two drinks with her cousin and her cousin's friend, she figures she was drugged, she only remembers having 2 drinks and playing pool. doesn't remember getting in her car or anything until waking up in the hospital. now apparently she is with out a licence because of it.

i can understand being held accountable for drinking and driving but where does the law stand where a noxious substance has been administered unbeknownst to the victim?
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One thing I don't understand:

If she really had been drugged, I assume the symptoms of feeling drowsy/drifting out of consciousness would have been apparent before she completely blacked out. Which leads me to say, she had no business being behind the wheel of the car in the first place. Her cousin/friend should have intervened if they weren't drunk/drugged themselves.

Her explanation is sketchy at best - no evidence and leaving with two companions? Not to mention the admission of drinking beforehand.

Sorry to hear about her situation, but she's going to need some luck and a good lawyer to beat this one.
 
Skyler said:
One thing I don't understand:

If she really had been drugged, I assume the symptoms of feeling drowsy/drifting out of consciousness would have been apparent before she completely blacked out. Which leads me to say, she had no business being behind the wheel of the car in the first place. Her cousin/friend should have intervened if they weren't drunk/drugged themselves.
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Not quite true. I was drugged 2 different times at bars in West Hollywood (and people wonder why I don't go to bars).

In both cases I remember having a drink, then the next thing was waking up several hours later. First time I apparently walked home, second time a friend drove and we stopped for food. I remember nothing beyond having the drink - not the walk, nor the stopping for food - just waking up the next day being sicker than ****** and wondering why because I only had a couple of drinks.

A quick chat with a Sheriff's Deputy filled in the blanks, apparently it is more common than people think. I don't know what drug it was, but it hit me instantly and when I woke later I remembered absolutely nothing. Very scary.
 
That is really awful what happened to your friend and it sounds like she is lucky to be alive.

I was drugged once at a bar. It does happen more than people think. I never did anything about it or reported it because nothing terrible ended up happening to me. I do remember things from it like being in an elevator and a car, but I also remember not being able to do anything about it. I think probably depending on the dose and type of drug used every ones reaction will be a bit different.
 
Was this recently? I ask because there were 2-3 news items about intoxication of people beyond what they were drinking here. There was a suspicion that drinks were being drugged a little more than usual.
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