There are three ways to be “intoxicated” or “under the influence” as defined by the Iowa Code for the offense of Operating While Intoxicated.
Let’s start with what the actual law (Iowa Code ยง321J.2) says:
1. A person commits the offense of operating while intoxicated if the person operates a motor vehicle in this state in any of the following conditions:
a. While under the influence of an alcoholic beverage or other drug or a combination of such substances.
This means that a person is guilty if they are “under the influence,” as determined by the officer’s various field sobriety tests and the officer’s judgment. This is generally caused by drinking too much alcohol, but the law states that the “under the influence” can arise from any combination of legal or illegal drugs and/or alcohol.
So if a person drinks alcohol so that the alcohol has influenced their driving, then they would be guilty. If a person ingests illegal drugs to the point of allowing the drug to influence their operation, that person is guilty. (More on that point below). But surprisingly, if a person consumes a legally prescribed (or even a non-prescribed, over-the-counter) drug and that drug influences that person’s operation of a motor vehicle, that person can be found guilty.
There is an exception for when a person consumes the legally prescribed amount of a drug, and the drug contains no warnings regarding operating a vehicle. But this is rare. Those over-the-counter sleeping pills all contain warnings. As does the doctor’s prescription for Ambien. If you consume these over-the-counter, or legally prescribed drugs, even without one drink of alcohol, you could be found guilty of OWI if you sit behind the wheel.
The second method for being found “intoxicated” for this offense is:
b. While having an alcohol concentration of .08 or more.
The most commonly known method. This measurement can be gathered by breath, blood or urine. The police have the right to demand either breath or urine, but they cannot force a blood test (unless that person is incapacitated).
As far as the first method, a defendant might think that as long as they test under .08, then they would be not guilty. That is not the case. The .08 limit only works one way. If a defendant tests at or above .08, then that person would be guilty, despite the showing of any level of being under the influence. If a defendant tests under .08, but still shows signs of intoxication, he still can be found guilty!
The .08 is a catch-all, all those above this limit are “under the influence,” but all those under the limit are not off the hook.
Method three:
c. While any amount of a controlled substance is present in the person, as measured in the person’s blood or urine.
For this method, a person does not even have to be under the influence. The mere fact that any detectable amount of an illegal drug (controlled substance) is present would make that person “intoxicated” for purposes of OWI.
That means that during the roughly month-long period that it takes for THC to be removed from a user’s system, if at any point that person were to get behind the wheel of a motor vehicle in Iowa, that person would be guilty of OWI.
Now the truth of these three rules is that a police officer will not have any reason to investigate a OWI unless he suspects driving under the influence. This post is just meant as a warning that driving with any illegal drug in a person’s system, or driving while being influenced by a legal drug, or driving under the influence of alcohol but blowing under .08, all these situations can lead to a conviction for OWI.
Obviously, though, a vast majority of all OWI cases deal with alcohol, and BAC levels at or above .08, but please take care not to get caught up in some of the other lesser-known “intoxicated” states under Iowa’s OWI laws.