Drug Crazy

Now that I am officially a chronic, intractable pain patient, with injuries obtained on the job, I have been forced into the position of having to defend myself against charges of "D.U.I" in two different states. It is not because I abused the drugs I've been prescribed, nor have I ever driven while impaired by those drugs. In fact, the main reason I was told I needed to do sobriety tests the 2nd time I was stopped was because the officer's computer showed the 1st, unresolved, arrest in another state, leading him to deduce that I must be impaired in the "same way", despite the fact that the 1st arrest proved to have no merit in fact. After all, due to pain, I hadn't slept for a few nights, and along with grieving the recent death of my father, my eyes were *really* bloodshot and I was basically a wreck. That's all it took for them to decide I was impaired. Well, maybe I was impaired alright, but it wasn't because of drugs. Unless, you could say I was abusing my meds by NOT taking them. So, after a lifetime of safe driving, of being a stickler for safety as a matter of fact, and of having trust in law enforcement officials to be basically honest and of course... NEVER to lie and make up "evidence" to back a false arrest... I am now aware that either I have always been sadly mistaken about the "justice" meted out by people who should never be allowed that much power, or else things have changed drastically over the past few decades in our "justice" system. It is all subjective, according to what police officers want to believe. And, I now know that most, if not all, police officers want to believe that *anybody* who takes prescription, narcotic pain relievers, is... by their definition... *always* "D.U.I." They believe that, even if the patient has been completely honest and forthcoming (or maybe *especially* if they've been honest and forthcoming!) and even if the patient has made a concerted effort to NOT take their medicines for a long period of time, the officers' primary purpose is to "prove" impairment. It is easier in some states than others. For instance, in Oregon, all that is required is for a trace amount to show up in a U.A., because they are not required to do quantitative tests. That means, you might go several days without your pain meds in order to be sure you won't be accused of "D.U.I.", but the drugs can still be detected in your system, and they not only *can* charge you, they most-assuredly *will*. They aren't required to show how miniscule the amount in your system might be... they only need to show that trace amounts show up. You might think you're being "noble" by not taking your meds, but if you are wracked with pain and can't sleep because of that, you will look pretty bad and their assumption will be that it was caused by the very drugs you didn't take.