Articles Posted in DUI Drug Charges

Sleep driving is a well-known side effect of Ambien.  Sleep driving is even listed as a side effect of this drug in the product literature. It is nevertheless illegal to be driving under the influence of Ambien. If you are stopped and the police believe that you are under the influence of Ambien in Michigan, then you will be arrested for DUI; just the same as if you were under the influence of alcohol.  This might be true even if you never intended to commit this crime.

In Michigan driving under the influence of Ambien is considered to be a general intent crime.  This means you do not have the specific intent to commit a DUI to be convicted of it in Michigan.  One reason for this is because intoxication is a defense to specific intent crimes.  If intoxication was a defense to DUI all persons arrested for it could raise intoxication as their defense.

However, an arrest is not a conviction.  Depending on the facts of your case, it may still be possible to raise a defense to the driving element, because even in Michigan a DUI requires the specific intent to drive.  This defense has been successful in many prior Ambien cases in Michigan. In other words, even if the totality of the crime is general intent, the driving element is specific intent.