The Criminal Defense Law Center of
West 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.
Headline: Operating with the Presence of a Controlled Substance (OWPD) in Grand Rapids
“In Grand Rapids, drugged driving is often prosecuted as Operating with the Presence of a Controlled Substance (OWPD) under MCL 257.625(8). Unlike alcohol, Michigan has a ‘Zero Tolerance’ policy for many Schedule 1 drugs. If you have any detectable amount of a controlled substance in your system—even if you aren’t actually high—you can be charged with a crime.
First Offense: Up to 93 days in jail and a $500 fine.
The Marijuana Exception: Since the Michigan Supreme Court ruling in People v. Koon, registered medical marijuana patients have a higher level of protection. The prosecutor must prove you were actually under the influence and impaired, not just that you have THC in your system.
Prescription Drug Defense: You can be charged with Operating While Intoxicated by Drugs (OWID) for legally prescribed medications like Xanax, Adderall, or painkillers if the officer believes they affected your driving.”
Challenging the Science of the Lab: Blood Tests Are Not Foolproof
Chain of Custody Scrutiny: We demand the full “litigation package” from the Michigan State Police lab. If the blood sample sat in a warm mailbox or a hot squad car before being tested, the integrity of the sample is compromised.
The THC Metabolite Argument: 11-carboxy-THC is a non-active metabolite that can stay in your system for weeks. We use forensic toxicologists to prove that the presence of metabolites does NOT equal impairment.
Laboratory Error Rates: Forensic labs are backlogged and prone to human error. We scrutinize the chromatograms to find evidence of cross-contamination or equipment failure.
Headline: Aggressive Defense in the 61st and 63rd District Courts
“A drugged driving arrest in Grand Rapids involves a technical prosecution team. Shawn Haff is the best West Michigan attorney to counter these experts. Whether your case is at the 17th Circuit Court or a local municipal court, we move with professional urgency to challenge the ‘probable cause’ for the blood warrant. If the police didn’t have a legal reason to force a needle into your arm, the drug evidence must be suppressed.”
Headline: Grand Rapids Drugged Driving FAQ
Can I refuse a blood test for drugs in Michigan? If the officer gets a warrant from a judge, you cannot refuse without facing “Implied Consent” penalties (automatic 1-year license suspension). However, we can often challenge the validity of that warrant in court.
Is ‘Drugged Driving’ a felony? A first or second offense is a misdemeanor. However, a third offense in your lifetime—regardless of how old the priors are—is a Class E Felony under Heidi’s Law.
Does a medical marijuana card protect me? It provides a higher legal standard for the prosecution, but it is not a “get out of jail free” card. You need Shawn Haff to argue the Koon defense effectively.
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:
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!