DUII FICTIONS

Eating food or drinking water will lower your Blood Alcohol Level.

  • False. Your blood alcohol level is a measure of alcohol in your blood. Consuming food and/or water will not change the amount of alcohol in your blood. While eating can help you feel more sober, it does nothing to help with lowering your blood alcohol level. The best bet that someone has at lowering their BAC is to just wait it out – and more than an hour. Studies have shown that the highest spike of a BAC occurs an hour after the last drink as the body is steadily catching up with the consumption.

If a police officer asks you to perform field sobriety tests, you have to do them.

  • False. No one passes field sobriety tests; do not perform them under any circumstance. Field sobriety tests are considered a search under Oregon law and you do not have to consent to a search of any kind. In fact, you should never consent to any request by police to search anything, ever. More importantly, the police use field sobriety tests to justify their pre-determined decision to arrest you. When an officer asks you to perform field sobriety tests, it is likely that he has already decided to arrest you. He therefore intends to use your performance on the FST’s to later justify his decision to a judge to arrest you.

Spraying breath spray can help lower Blood Alcohol levels.

  • False. In fact, the opposite may actually be true in many cases. Most breath sprays contact traces of alcohol and other active ingredients that can actually aggravate a BAC level rather than lowering it. Beyond this, most law enforcement officers will suspect something if they can tell that you’ve used breath spray which will heighten suspicion and create an even more complicated situation.

Putting pennies or metal in your mouth can trick the Breathalyzer.

  • False. This is a common belief and a popularly used strategy, however, it has no merit. Additionally, it is standardized practice for the police to remove everything from your mouth and make you wait at least 15 minutes before administering the test.

I can’t get a DUII if I have prescription

  • False. You can get a DUII even if you have a prescription. The police are more and more frequently charging people with drug DUII’s even though the person has a prescription from a Doctor. It is important that you do not tell a police officer that you have taken your prescription.