Statutes in the state of Colorado define Driving Under the Influence, or DUI, as “driving a motor vehicle or vehicle when a person has consumed alcohol or one or more drugs, or a combination of alcohol and one or more drugs, that affects the person to a degree that the person is substantially incapable, either mentally or physically, or both mentally and physically, to exercise clear judgment, sufficient physical control, or due care in the safe operation of a vehicle”.

It’s a common misconception that DUIs pertain to driving while under the influence of alcohol alone, but this is not the case.  DUIs may pertain to the use of illicit drugs, legal drugs like marijuana, and even prescription drugs if they impair your ability to drive and you get behind the wheel anyway.  You could also be criminally charged with the lesser offense of Driving While Ability Impaired, or DWAI, even if you are not impaired enough to warrant a DUI charge.

What Are the Different Types of DUI?

DUIs involving drugs are categorized as Driving Under the Influence of Drugs (DUID) and they fall into three categories:

Many police departments and individual officers participate in Drug Evaluation and Classification (DEC) Programs to learn to effectively classify DUID cases for the purposes of proving impairment in the court setting.

What Is the DEC Program?

The DEC Program is designed to train law enforcement officers to utilize a 12-step evaluation process to determine if a person is impaired due to drugs, and if so, what those drugs might be. Officers that complete this training become Drug Recognition Evaluators/Experts, or DREs. The DEC Program was developed largely because Standard Field Sobriety Tests, while apt at identifying impairment, are not designed to pinpoint the drugs a driver may have taken.