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Virginia Beach Alcohol and Drug Mix DUI Charges

There are two major ways people can be charged with driving under the influence in Virginia: driving under the influence of alcohol and driving under the influence of drugs. Both charges are serious and are treated as such in the Virginia Beach court system. People can also be charged with having both alcohol and drugs in their system while driving.

In all cases, it is beneficial to seek out and speak with an experienced Virginia Beach DUI drug lawyer to discuss your case. He or she will be able to provide insight and knowledge into your case and give you valuable guidance on how to proceed with your case.

Defending an Alcohol and Drug DUI Case in Virginia Beach

Mixing alcohol and drugs together can definitely have an effect on how a DUI case is prosecuted or defended. For a Virginia Beach prosecutor, mixing of drugs and alcohol provide two different avenues of impairment to attack, which can cause them to really want to push the charge harder than if it had just been one avenue, such as alcohol or drugs.

For the defense, it offers an explanation for why the impairment could have happened in the first place, which maybe did not relate so much to someone being irresponsible and drinking and purposely driving, but more so to an unexpected reaction that happened due to the mixing.

People that are using drugs that they have prescribed should also be careful. Typically, prescription drugs that could have an impairing effect when they’re mixed with alcohol in general will have a warning that tells the user to not mix them with any alcohol while taking the drug.

If they did have a warning and someone chose to ignore it, then it is pretty unlikely that they’re going to get any type of leniency from a Virginia Beach prosecutor and judge. However, hiring an experienced Virginia Beach DUI drug attorney to aid your defense may help you mitigate negative ramifications of such a charge.

Penalties for Having Both Alcohol and Drugs in System

Penalties for a mixing of alcohol and drug DUI depends on what the drug in question is and what the particular level of the amount was. If someone had a really high amount of alcohol in their system and then on top of that an illegal drug then, the penalty could definitely more serve. But if the amount of alcohol was not very big and the drug was an illegally taken drug and the impairment happened due to an unforeseen reaction to the combination of them together, then it’s not likely that someone’s going to be suffering more severe consequences than they would from a typical DUI.

However, these penalties vary from case to case and it is in your interest to consult a drug DUI lawyer in Virginia Beach to obtain more accurate and specific information regarding your particular case.

There are definitely ways to defend against such charges in court, though the defense will likely be more complicated and nuanced than regular DUI cases. For help in your case, speak with a Virginia Beach DUI attorney today.

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