Urine Testing

Urine testing is rarely used in DUI - alcohol cases because it is not particularly pleasant, it takes time, and it is much less accurate than blood testing. However, it is frequently employed when someone is arrested for DUI - drugs, because many substances can be detected in the urine long after they have left the bloodstream. In Georgia a person can be convicted of DUI if any amount of benzoylecgonine, the inactive metabolite of cocaine, is detected in a urine test. While there is a challenge to this law in the Court of Appeals at this time, it is currently the law.

A urine sample will consist of the urine that has been collected in the bladder since the last time a person voided. In order to deal with this problem in the context of a DUI - alcohol it is recommended that a person void his bladder prior to producing a sample. After a short time the individual should then be able to urinate again. This is rarely done in the every day world of law enforcement, although it is recommended by the American Medical Association.

When urine is submitted for drug testing a minimum volume of 30 milliliters is recommended. However, the experienced DUI attorney knows full well that urine test result is merely a history of what has been in the blood in the recent past. It is not evidence of impairment. Even the Society of Forensic Toxicologists agrees that neither qualitative nor quantitative analysis of urine can form the basis for determining the effect of a drug on human behavior. The employees from the state crime lab will certainly tell the jury that they can reach such conclusions, at least until they are cross-examined.