A DUI for Caffeine
Everyone knows that you can be stopped for suspicions of driving under the influence if you are displaying unsafe driving behavior. You should also know that other substances besides alcohol or illicit substances can make you behave in ‘not normal’ ways. A California man was pulled over last year because of this and the only substance in his system was caffeine. Read about it in the article below.
In August 2015, a California man was charged with a DUI after testing positive for caffeine even though his blood tested negative for alcohol. On Wednesday, the countys district attorney dropped the case.
Joseph Schwab, 36, was driving home in Fairfield, California, when he was pulled over by an Alcohol Beverage Control agent who claimed the man was weaving in and out of traffic, Fox 6 reported.
The agent found legal workout powders in Schwabs car. After asking Schwab to perform field sobriety tests, the agent arrested him.
The driver seemed very amped up, very agitated, very combative, and she thought he was under the influence of something, Krishna Abrams, Solano Countys district attorney, told Fox 6.
Schwab agreed to undergo a blood test in jail, and the results came back negative except for caffeine.
Forensic toxicologist Edwin Smith told the news station that caffeine may actually improve the ability of most drivers.
Very few, if any, of those people are having problems functioning in a task like driving, Smith told Fox 6. Most are probably doing it as well, and potentially even better than they would do without it.
Abrams dropped the DUI charge against Schwab on Wednesday.
