In Arizona, if you are convicted of driving while impaired by marijuana, prescription drugs or driving with an illegal metabolite in your system, the suspension is for one year no driving with no ability to shorten your suspension or request a restricted license. Your only way to avoid a one year suspension would be to request an administrative hearing and successfully contest that you were impaired by a drug/metabolite. Additionally, you will have to prevail on your criminal Drug DUI charges. This is because the outcome of the administrative hearing does not affect the criminal charges and visa versa.
Sometimes it is possible to get the prosecutor to change your Drug DUI into an ordinary alcohol DUI, however, this may not prevent the MVD from still issuing you the one year drug suspension if the paperwork submitted to them by the officer references drugs and you are suspended on that basis.
The one benefit to receiving a Drug DUI over an alcohol based DUI is that we can ask the Judge to waive the requirement to install an ignition interlock device.
There are many defenses to driving while impaired by a drug or metabolite. It is important to discuss your situation with a lawyer before accepting any type of plea agreement. If you need assistance with defending your Drug DUI please give us a call at (480) 306-8875 and schedule a free consultation or click this link to go directly to our DUI Information Page for the most up to date status of Arizona’s DUI laws.