The Criminal Defense Law Center of
West Michigan

Drugged Driving (OUID)

OUID Defense Attorneys
Grand Rapids, Michigan

Under Michigan law, you face some tough penalties if you are convicted of drugged driving. You are facing a jail or prison time, high fines and your driving privileges will be suspended. Under Michigan’s tough drugged driving laws, a police officer is allowed to obtain a search warrant for a drawing of the accused blood if you are suspected of operating under the influence of drugs (OUID) if you refuse to submit to a test on the roadside right away.

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Michigan Drugged Driving Laws

In Michigan law, drugged driving means that even if a person has trace elements of a schedule I drug or trace elements of cocaine in their system while driving a vehicle can face arrest for OUID. Michigan’s statutes are zero tolerance and can hammer a person with stiff penalties for a first-time conviction:

  • Driver’s license suspension for 30 days and a restricted license for 150 days.
  • A fine of at least $100 and up to $500.
  • Driver responsibility fees of up to $1000
  • Up to 93 days in jail
  • Up to 360 hours of community service
  • Vehicle immobilization
    Installation of ignition interlock device

OUID Accidents

OWID accidents causing serious injuries to a victim are usually prosecuted by the state as felonies. If you injure another person because you are driving under the influence of drugs, you are facing up to five years in prison! If you cause an accident that results in a fatality, you can face up to 15 years in prison for an OWID. If a person killed is a first responder, the maximum sentence a person can face is up to twenty years in prison. 

Attorney Shawn Haff will examine the evidence for you; accident report, field sobriety tests, blood, drug analysis, and videotapes to provide you with the best defense possible.

The Michigan legislature has passed a new law concerning drugged driving. This law drastically increases the penalties for those motorists convicted of driving under the influence of drugs.

Police have noticed an increase in drugged driving on Michigan roads, and feel that these new penalties are necessary in order to help remove some of these unsafe drivers from the state’s roadways. It is important that people realize that they could be facing these charges if they have any drugs in their system that impact their ability to operate a motor vehicle. 

This includes prescription medications that they may be using, even if they are doing so in a way prescribed by their doctor. People on the road need to be aware of any potential side-effects of medications that they may be taking before they drive.

When you face criminal charges in your life, especially if this is your first office, the prospect of jail or prison time, the loss of your driving privileges and heavy fines can cause you to panic. In order to be convicted of Operating With the Presence of Drugs, under the old law, law enforcement and prosecutors were not required by law to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that you were intoxicated because of the use of narcotics. They simply had to prove any amount of an intoxicating drug was in your system while you were driving. Because of this, there were a lot of wrongful convictions, because certain drugs can show up in your system months after you have taken them!

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