Ok, I appreciate the clear answer.

Man, the system is fucked up. The fact that simply existing as a human being is reason for suspicion is so wild to me.

You're given the right to remain silent and go about your business if you're not being detained. But just using your rights makes you look suspect is insane.

Rigged system.

should be a doctor And a pharmacists responsibility to inform you of common side effects and chemically how it effects your brain.

Here, if you care to read this, this is a lot of the stuff I learned over my years of drug abuse through my own curiosity and research. Including prescriptions that my doctor just threw at me and I said it worked cause it made me feel good and I abused this. This is all information that doctors should explain to patients at the bare minimum when prescribing these drugs and if a patient is honest with their doctor about occasional illicit drug use like cocaine, they should not ridicule a patient, but they should inform them of how it works. And this is all very brief summaries that would give an average person a good idea of how serious psychoactive chemicals are and how they effect every part of your body. Brief things like this would have saved hundreds of thousands during the opioid epidemic and would still save people from accidental overdoses or ignorance to how it effects their fine motor system and why it's important for them to think twice about that warning when that pill kicks in. It would prevent a lot of people from making mistakes such as driving because they misjudged their mind.

For example, opiates release serotonin and dopamine and prevent reuptake, which leads to euphoria typically and also contains somniferium, which is what causes people to typically nod off without even realizing it. It also releases histamines, which is why you'll see heroin addicts scratching themselves and drifting into a euphoric half sleep-dream like state. So you can expect to feel a sense of peace and well being, however, it can produce the opposite effects in some, such as anger, confusion, frustration. It also is known to typically boost your confidence because of the massive amount of dopamine, so this could make you falsely believe that you are not as loopy as you truly are. As far as how it works for pain, it changes your perception of pain and essentially makes you not care about it. This is a little bit harder to explain, but it is not like aspirin in the sense that it numbs your nerves. You will still feel something, but basically you're so loopy that you couldn't care less about it. That's why it's so effective for pain management That's just the common side effects. Also, it causes nervous system depression, this includes your heart and your lungs. This is why it's important that you DO NOT exceed the prescribed dose and take extreme precaution with other drugs including, but not limited to, alcohol, benzodiazepines (Xanax, Valium, Ativan, Clonazepam) and other nervous system depressants, as these work on each other and severely increase the risk cardiac arrest, sudden death and loss of respiration. It is also not advised to take any stimulants like cocaine, amphetamine (Adderall) dexamphetamine (Vyvanse) methylphenidate (Ritalin, concerta) methamphetamine or other central nervous system stimulants as these can create severe adverse effects and is also just general bad for your cardiac system. Also, pharmaceutical painkillers are stronger than pure heroin, which is typically never mentioned by doctors or pharmacists, which would help to give an idea of how serious it is.

Let's talk about benzodiazepines, another very commonly prescribed class of drugs for anxiety disorders and occasionally severe epileptic disorders. It works on the GABA receptor, in similar ways to alcohol. Which is why it's very effective for anxiety attacks, as it is involved in a sense of calmness. Typically making you drowsy and care free. Xanax is the most common and also most powerful. You should never drink or take other CNS depressants on these drugs because they only work off each other and can quickly shut down bodily autonomy before you even know it and you're dead.

Stimulants, common ones are Adderall (amphetamine) Vyvanse (dexamphetamine, essentially a stronger version of amphetamine) Ritalin (concerta is the extended release form, chemical compound is methylphenidate.) and commonly used as well, cocaine.

These drugs all work in a similar way. Amphetamines are produce dopamine in massive amounts and prevent the reuptake, which is why it's common for ADHD, as studies show that ADHD patients have very fluctuating dopamine levels. Methylphenidate (Ritalin) is a dopamine reuptake inhibitor, it doesn't cause dopamine to flood your brain, but it prevents the reuptake, this leads to cns stimulation. Common side effects are anxiety, tremors, blurred vision, euphoria, sense of well being, increased heart rate, increased respiration, increased blood pressure and heightened sense of alertness, including smells, touch, feel, visual. Some other things like tunnel vision can occur, as these can trigger fight or flight response by increasing adrenaline and norepinephrine levels.

You should NEVER drink alcohol on any stimulant. If you do cocaine, it metabolizes into cocaethylne in the liver when you drink alcohol. This is essentially a much more potent version of cocaine and is the reason users report that they can drink all night and never feel drunk, as the cocaine is reintroduced through inhalation, insufflation or injection, it is only increasing the cocaethylne amount in your blood stream. This can lead to temporary psychosis at best if you go on a bender and sudden death at worst.

Similarly, methylphenidate (Ritalin) and alcohol metabolizes in your liver into sex methylphenidate, which is about 30% more potent than it's base form. Additionally, if you take concerta, the extended release version, it's a pill with a small hole to allow the slow release of the drug over 12 hours. Let's use 54mg ER for example, the coating of the pill is roughly 14mg that immediately dissolves and the rest dissolves over 12 hours. However, when combined with alcohol, not only does it metabolize into dexmethylphenidate, which we already established is roughly 30% more potent than it's base form, methylphenidate. Additionally, it causes the pill to turn into it's immediate release form. Which means you are getting roughly 54mg of dexmethylphenidate all at once if you are drinking hard liquor. An average human could easily die from just 2 of these pills combined with a few shots of liquor.

SSRI's, selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors. Used for depression, no recreational value. Adverse side effects include suicidal thoughts, increased anxiety, temporary psychosis, tremors, hopelessness, anger, confusion. It should start to be noticeable in roughly 2 weeks to reach therapeutic levels, if your mood doesn't improve and especially gets even worse, immediately stop taking it and talk to your doctor. Also, never take psychedelics such as LSD (Acid) Psilocybin (mushrooms), DMT (Dimethyltryptamine) etc... this can cause a rare but very serious side effect known as serotonin syndrome, which can lead to shock and death within hours. Never take MDMA (Molly, ecstasy) as this is a stimulant with mild psychedelic properties that also can cause serotonin syndrome. And under no circumstances take any of these with MAOI's.

See, this is all information that a doctor NEVER informed me about. I had to learn to ask my doctor and pharmacist every important aspect of these drugs, all of which I have been prescribed or abused in my past.

Y concerta does improve my driving and when I was a forklift operator, it helped me focus a lot more.

It improves my confidence while driving and I become hyper aware of my surroundings.

This was a hypothetical scenario, I had an argument and needed to understand the law.

I lost the argument, that's wild that police can search your medication because "probably cause, your vibes are mad weird bro"

Ya, I've been in the mental hospital a few times since willingly and learned a lot. Plus I don't have constant abuse in my life any more and live happily with people who love me unconditionally. I still struggle with drugs and booze, but I actually take my medications daily now and try my best to stay positive.

Thank you for your service and understanding of my insane story. I know it probably sounds like I'm batshit insane, but Im just broken, I don't want to hurt myself or especially anyone else, I've worked on my anger a lot and live a lot more peacefully these days.

But yes, I can't believe some judges. It is beyond sad and disgusting how robotic they are with people. Everyone makes mistakes. Nobody makes mistakes on purpose. And if it's a pattern of behavior, they aren't mistakes and should be judged differently.

We live in a crazy world and I think compassion would get us a lot further than resentment. Especially for those who have never been judged accordingly. Which sadly happens all the time, but that's a whole different topic about our prison systems that I'll save for another day.

I just couldn't imagine having all that power and using it to try and ruin lives and not treat people like humans that make mistakes. It's sad.

Right, I understand that.

But what if you are responsible and you don't understand that you are even high from a dose a doctor prescribed you? Painkillers would be a great example. Say you have chronic pain. You take 10mg Percocet and even though the label says to not operate machinery until you understand how it effects you. But an hour later, you feel fine and in fact, even more confident in your ability to function because your pain is gone and life is good.

So you decide you're gonna drive to the store and halfway there, you start nodding off at the wheel and crash.

Is it on that person, who was being responsible and using their best judgement given the circumstances, to be held responsible for following their judgement because their perception of reality is so altered from a drug that they need?

Seems like a gray area to me, considering how many powerful psychoactive drugs are tossed at people nowadays.

Of course it's always your fault if it's something illegal or alcohol, as you are fully aware of how stupid it is, but you are being ignorant out of arrogance.

Benzos effect similar receptors to alcohol. They can and will alter judgement so bad that it is impossible for that person to know that they're basically drunk on a pill.

And benzos are prescribed very often and not properly explained to patients exactly what it does and what to expect. A simple label telling you to basically use your best judgement when your judgement is impaired should not be someone's fault if they black out and feel totally fine to drive. They are literally using their best moment in that moment.

I understand it's not legal, but where does judgement and ridicule fall if that person did everything the bottle said to do?

Should that blame not fall on doctors and pharmacists for being more clear when prescribing such medications? If a patient follows the prescription to a t and it's warning label, why are they responsible and not the person who can legally give them a psychoactive drug and send them on their way with no information on just how serious it can effect them?

Right, I completely agree with that because it's being willingly ignorant to warning labels. And wether it's willingly ignorant or genuine ignorance doesn't matter when it comes to laws, and rightfully so.

But I think it's wild that they are entitled to know what you are prescribed.

Yes, you should face punishment for purposely ignoring blatant warnings. But it is not the cops business what you take for your health, but just that you are clearly fucked up on something. So I can understand a warrant for a blood test, but I think it's overreaching to know what you take for your health.

And also, sometimes these prescriptions can cause confusion and a false sense of confidence. Painkillers are a good example. They make you feel like you're on top of the world, but a lot of people take it for genuine reasons, don't abuse it and fall victim to it's adverse effects.

That is not the same as getting high and being reckless, that is a genuine misconception because your mind is not consciously thinking appropriately. So how do you weed out the genuine assholes who knows they're fucked up and don't care, versus the people who have no clue that they're nodding off at the wheel because they took a 10mg Percocet for their genuine chronic pain?

If it distorts your perception so bad that you genuinely can't understand how high you are and forgetting that you are high from the side effects, how can you be treated and punished like actual assholes who are selfish and knowingly driving high on their prescriptions?

And medication like opiates, benzos, barbiturates in general can and will make even the most innocent person forget how fucked up they are. My friend's mother literally overdosed and died on her pain meds because her dose was so crazy that she FORGOT she already took a pill a couple hours ago and took another thinking she had missed a dose. She stopped breathing and died because of it.

So again, these drugs can make you that delusional and if that's the case, of course a cop should get a warrant to blood test you, but how is it their business what exact prescription it is? Sure, they should have the right to know the class of drug so they can accurately judge a person's head space, but the only concern should be is it a prescription? Are they responsible people who were pulled into the delusion from their medication? Or is it someone who is getting high and being reckless?

I know I'm getting deep into semantics, but I do think these are important questions about authority and power.

Again, the only thing they should be able to obtain is the class of drug in your bloodstream. If they found nothing illegal in your car and especially if they didn't stumble upon your prescribed medication, it is not their business what it is, only if they believe you are impaired and get an order for a blood test.

They can call pharmacies, provide the name of the person, confirm an Rx number and class of narcotic and nothing more.

Is it important if you drank vodka or gin? No, they just need to know that you are drunk. So they definitely shouldn't be entitled to know your exact prescription.

Again, I'm obviously being super uptight and libertarian nut about this. Cause personally I would just tell them. I do however think privacy is important and is a human right. Especially medical privacy.

I completely agree, that was not my question.

I don't drive high or drunk. It's stupid and incredibly selfish. My friend was ran over by a drunk driver at 19 and killed instantly. I do not like it. I am asking a completely hypothetical question out of curiosity. It is not about the person being high. The question is, how is it legal to demand your medical information without finding drugs in your car?

If they had reason to believe, I could see how they could get a warrant to do a blood test to confirm you did in fact take your own prescriptions, I am not questioning if that is stupid and against the law to be willingly ignorant to the CLEAR instructions on your prescription bottle to not operate any machinery unless you are completely adjusted to it.

Well everyone has different brain chemistry, that is not fair at all to say.

Would you say that to the thousands of people who got hooked on painkillers and overdosed on accident because doctors were giving them 300 pills a month and not informing them how dangerous it can be?

The way a drug effects you is not gonna be a 1:1 comparison to anyone else. The best option I made was to stop taking it because it did weird shit to me, no? Doesn't that make more sense than me continuing to take a drug that is capable of making me blackout and do things I would never do if I was capable of thinking for a single moment?

Google "Ambien defense in court". There is legal precedent because of the shit Ambien has made people do with zero recollection. It's an actual defense tactic in court. The drug shouldn't even be legal, I've done my fair share in my life and Ambien is insanely strange. I've seen things like a giant hole open in my wall with a million flies pouring out. Heard people talking. Felt like I had friends in my head. I don't take it anymore, I take trazodone because the worst it does is make you groggy. Ambien induces genuine psychosis

It says take before bed, which I did. It wasn't even 20 minutes and I started feeling loopy and delirious and hallucinating. You really can't comprehend how drugs effect your brain, can you? There's countless Ambien horror stories from people that didn't sleep in time.

And hell no, I am very ashamed that I drove anywhere.

But I literally don't remember doing any of it because of how delirious the Ambien made me and then made worse by drinking, which I don't remember doing, just remember having a delusional thought that a drink sounded good. Which I wouldn't do if I remembered my Ambien.

No, I definitely made a mistake. But how in the world was I supposed to know that if I didn't lay down, 20 minutes later I'd be so delirious that I forgot I took my meds and on top of that, thought it was a smart idea to mix a deadly drug with it?

I would have accepted responsibility, my point being, I did not know that could happen and none of those decisions were made by me. Because I was delirious and therefore not capable of making appropriate decisions and proper short-long term memory. I don't remember drinking, but I remember thinking a drink wouldn't be a bad idea and that is definitely not something I would think in my right mind. It's a sleeping pill and respiratory sedative, I'm lucky I didn't choke on my puke or have my breathing stop.

Just so you're aware, I do not drive high or drunk, I am fully aware of my medication and how it effects me. I've never had a DUI or even a damn speeding ticket, I am asking a hypothetical question.

Sure, it's a privilege. But innocent people are prescribed drugs daily that can make them so delusional they don't even realize they're high on their medication and it's side effects.

Completely legal and necessary for their health, but so high that they forget they're even high until they're swerving off the road and wondering why they can't keep their eyes open or think straight.

Seems like a bit of a gray area to me, because of how common strong psychoactive medications are prescribed to responsible people that take their exact dose and have adverse effects.

At that point, it is the cops business to know if you are high and if you are either willingly being a selfish assholes and driving high or if you're a responsible human that fell victim to pharmaceuticals and severe lack of knowledge and information on their prescriptions.

I think a fair comparison would be something akin to hypoxia in pilots. Is it irresponsible or are they victims to something that is actively dulling their better judgement each second that it starts to effect the brain.

If we're gonna over reach on responsible people taking prescriptions responsibly and falling victim to their effects like a frog in boiling water, why are old people still allowed to drive? Would it be fair to revoke their license because their brains are decaying so bad that they are a gigantic risk to the safety of other drivers?

Yes, it's a privilege. But healthcare is a right and not a right to know for anyone.

The only concern a cop should have, if they don't search the car and don't illegal drugs, but prescriptions that can alter someone's perception so bad, they don't even know what they're doing.... Is this person safe? Get them to a hospital, get a warrant to find out what class of drug and charge them appropriately.

Does it matter if you drank vodka or gin? No and that's in a scenario that is never acceptable or understandable. If this person is responsible, the only concern should be their safety and should be questioned when they're mentally sound enough to think appropriately and their prescribed drug has worn off. Anything beyond that is not important. Their intentions are the only concern a cop should ever need to know. And again, if they don't have illegal drugs and are prescribed drugs for genuine illness, it is not their business beyond getting that person help from a medical professional who does have the right to know what they are prescribed so they can treat them appropriately. Yes, it's a privilege. But that doesn't mean responsible people should get punished because of their health.

Dude that is so fucked. I have no history besides a mental breakdown where I snapped and took a loaded rifle outside in search for a person harassing my family non stop and I had full intent (in my blackout rage) to shoot this person, even though he was nowhere near my house because of a no contact order he had for domestic battery against me and threatening my mother.

Victims assistance called the police becausemy mom was on the phone and I took the barrel away from my head and instead I walked outside with the rifle, ended up sitting in my driveway with the rifle in my lap, finally my mother convinced me to give her the gun right before 7 cops showed up. They all treated me with respect, let me smoke a cigarette while I flat out told them I was going to kill this person or die trying, telling them exactly what I was going to do, exact rifle, exact ammunition, full magazine, safety off... Told them I wasn't out to hurt anyone but myself or this person with full intent (from a severe mental breakdown related to PTSD) to kill them.

I smoked a cigarette, agreed that I needed help and wanted to go to a psych ward.

I got charged with a felony 5 and spent 3 days in jail instead.

But what's crazy is the judge saw that I wasn't an actual murderer, I was broken. He let me out that afternoon without having to pay a cent. Eventually got it dropped down to a class a misdemeanor, one year probation.

The reason I am saying all this, is because I find it FUCKING INSANE that the system is so broke that someone like myself, who definitely committed a serious crime, was given better treatment than a mother who had one of her son's pills that she carries for her son.

Really goes to show you how broken our system is. If all cops and judges were as understanding as the ones I dealt with, this country would be so much better. If they can sympathize with someone who is admittedly broken, but clearly violent tendencies (although the whole situation is fucked up and a lot more complicated than it sounds. Because I had that same rifle aimed at this man because he was breaking down our door and I didn't shoot him a few nights before) when pushed to their limit, then this poor woman doesn't deserve any of that treatment and should in fact be compensated for the mental trauma it caused her.

Cops that are out PURELY to ruin lives should be exiled immediately. Prosecutors that are out to purely ruin lives should be exiled. And judges that judge on black and white, instead of context, should be jailed and terminated from ever practicing law ever again.

These people have so much power in one stroke of their pen, it needs to be strictly monitored and zero tolerance for abhorrent abuse of their position of power.

Disgusting humans.

Well, I know that.

Never did anything stupid like drive high or drunk. But I did talk my way into a felony before and got it dropped to a misdemeanor.

Found out the hard way that telling a cop I fully planned on shooting someone harassing my family was a quick way to get a felony 5 charge. But to be fair, it was a mental breakdown from PTSD and I knew that I shouldn't be talking, I just didn't give a shit.

Police have always treated me with a lot of respect, I try to be as respectful and honest back. But definitely won't answer certain things that I know are purposely worded to get a confession of a crime out of me.

How is that not a direct violation of your medical privacy. Of course I would just comply, as I've always been honest with cops and it's always benefited me in the long run and I've always been treated with nothing but respect, especially during hard times when I asked for help mentally by calling them and asking to be taken to a place that can help me.

But how is it suspicious to not want to share your medical information? That's like when people refuse to talk and ask for a lawyer, it's automatically assumed they're guilty, when in fact, they're doing the proper thing that is their right.

I could see how demanding to know the pharmacy and calling them to confirm you take some sort of prescribed narcotic is legal. But can they really demand something that directly violates your medical privacy? I don't know the law, obviously. But I did work in the medical field, specifically I made prosthetics.

Your health is private and protected. Your prescriptions are prescribed by a doctor, that is private information.

I could see how they can arrest for DWI if you are willingly ignorant to the clear instructions on your bottle, such as not operating a vehicle until you are absolutely adjusted and if you don't know, then the answer is NO, don't drive.

I appreciate the very clear response to my questions.

How do they determine the difference between selfish assholes knowingly driving high on their prescriptions and innocent people who are so delusional from the side effects, that they forget they're even high until the nod off at the wheel and wake up to an officer tapping on their glass?

I know there is a warning label for good reason. But prescription drugs are no joke and can make innocent, honest people so delirious that they forget they're even high. Xanax, Percocet, oxycodone, Ambien, ketameen etc are just a few drugs that are fully capable of distorting your judgement so bad, even at responsible doses, that they lose judgement of their delirium.

I've taken Ambien, forgot I took it and started drinking vodka. I blacked out and apparently took my car to the gas station, puked on myself, shoved my ash tray in my glove box, ripped everything else out and passed out for 3 hours in the middle of the night.

I had ZERO recollection and absolutely would never, ever put myself or especially other people at risk like that and thankfully in my case, I passed out, woke up in the back of My mom's car and wondered why I fell asleep in the back seat of her car. Where does the law stand there if I was found in the parking lot or God forbid something worse like killing an entire family because a prescribed drug made me so delirious that I forgot I even took it AND then thought it would be a good idea to drink vodka for no reason (especially because it's a deadly cocktail) and completely teleport through time and space with zero recollection that I ever made these decisions or that it even happened if someone didn't tell me exactly what happened? It wasn't bad judgement on my part, I literally had no control of myself because of a prescription. So I'm curious how that works in law. I'm assuming I'd be arrested and I guess I would understand, but id be deeply confused as the only thing I did was take a drug that I was prescribed, at a prescribed dose. Understanding that I shouldn't do anything other than sleep from it, but it altered me so bad that I can't even recall making these decisions because I would never make them if I wasnt completely delusional from it.

Well, I appreciate the clarity.

I was asking if that was legal, because it seems FUCKING WILD and insane that they can rummage through your medication that you were prescribed by a doctor because you "appear" high.

Do you not see how gross that is? How much of an abuse of power that is?

They should have to call medical professionals to search your pills, they should have licensed professionals to do searches on your personal medication. They should have to provide proof of their medical profession, a warrant, on body cam and right in front of you.

I do not trust a power hungry cop to search my medication, that is a gross abuse of power and has so much potential to be abused, such as stealing your medication or planting drugs in your prescription bottle. If it is your name on the bottle, they should have no right to touch it.

I personally don't fuss with police and I've always been treated with respect and I give them respect and honesty back. But if you don't see how that's fucking insane that they can rummage through your prescriptions just on a hunch, that is absolutely wild. I can understand searching a car and even that is abused quite often because "probable cause", or typically it's another phrase for "your vibes are off bro"

I'd gladly give my tax dollars to fund medical professionals in law enforcement for scenarios involving drugs both illegal and prescribed. Especially seeing all the panic attacks these cops have when fentanyl is within a mile radius of their nostrils. Not only would it be safer for the cops, so they don't pass out from anxiety attacks that fentanyl could be hiding under their beds at night. Never see medical professionals pass out from handling fentanyl, so that would benefit them too.

Just look at how body cams aren't legally required to be on. That tells you all you need to know about why police should not be rummaging through such personal things like your medication. Somehow evidence shows up or suddenly disappears sometimes and I don't want anyone who isn't a licensed professional near my meds.

I always love the "why are you anxious?" I always tell them about my anxiety disorder and because of them in general. They're in a position of power and have the ability to fuck up my entire life if they are a piece of shit. I've personally always been treated with respect. The police in my town are great, but they're still authority.

Well that's what my question is: how is that not a violation of your medical privacy?

Btw, I always comply and never got in any trouble traffic related, I am just curious how the legality works. Obviously I personally would just tell them what I take, but that is my choice to share my medical information.