Drunk driving has long been a phrase in the national lexicon of terms related driving and public safety. Over the past decade, a companion term—drugged driving—has entered into common usage as policy makers have focused their attention on reducing the incidence of driving while impaired by substances other than alcohol. The problem, of course, is not new. North Carolina law has long prohibited driving while under the influence of an impairing substance. See G.S. 20-138.1(a)(1). The term impairing substance is broadly defined to include the following substances: Alcohol; A controlled substance under Chapter 90; Any drug or psychoactive substance capable of impairing a person’s physical or mental faculties; or Any combination of these substances. G.S. 20-4.01(14a). Thus, prescription as well as illicit drugs may qualify as impairing substances as may over-the-counter medications and other psychoactive substances, like inhalants, depending upon their potential effect on the body. The fact that person is legally entitled to use a particular drug is not a defense to a charged of impaired driving, see G.S. 20-138.1(b), though it may be a mitigating factor at sentencing, see G.S. 20-179(e)(5). A person is considered to be under the influence of an impairing substance when the person’s “physical or mental faculties, or both, are appreciably impaired” by the substance. G.S. 20-4.01(48b). How does the State prove that a person was appreciably impaired by an impairing substance other than alcohol? While no particular form of evidence is required, “evidence of some impairing substance is essential . . . by some [...]
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