Sleep Driving: Ambien's Dark Side
Millions of Americans suffer from insomnia, which explains why more than 26 million prescriptions for a sleeping medication called Ambien were written in 2005. Unfortunately, there is increasing evidence that Ambien’s popularity comes with a dark side: Users report doing strange things in their sleep and remember none of it in the morning. Ambien users have been found by loved ones and strangers sleepwalking; eating the entire contents of the fridge, including strange things like buttered cigarettes; and most dangerously, driving in their sleep.
Unfortunately, this means our nation has seen a rise in Ambien-related DUIs. In fact, the Wisconsin Law Journal reported that Ambien is in the top 10 most commonly detected drugs in many state toxicology labs. A reference to Ambien-related sleep-driving even made it into a recent episode of The Simpsons. People arrested for a DUI under the influence of Ambien don’t usually remember getting in the car and driving; in fact, they’re generally people who previously had spotless driving records. In response, the FDA announced in March that it wanted makers of Ambien and other insomnia drugs to make the warnings that come with these medications increasingly dire.
Because the law requires DUI to be voluntary -- that is, you have to know you’re under the influence and choose to drive anyway in order to be charged with a DUI -- people arrested for Ambien-related sleep-driving may be able to get their DUI charges lessened or dismissed altogether with the help of an experienced DUI attorney. There aren’t many reports on the results of Ambien DUI court cases yet, but having no prior DUIs would certainly help. Consuming alcohol or nonprescription drugs along with the Ambien might hurt your case -- if you remember doing it.
