Heroin/Opiates

Drug Legal imit
Heroin/Morphine 5ug/L

Heroin and associated drugs

Heroin and Morphine are opiate drugs which are derived from the opium plant and they include heroin, morphine, codeine and thebaine.

Opioids are compounds of these drugs but are synthetic ie methadone and fentanyl.

Morphine is a strong analgesic prescribed to treat severe pain and is often used in palliative care.

Codeine and dihdrocodeine are anlygesics used to treat mild to moderate pain and codeine is often used to supress coughs and treat diarrhoea. Both occur in combination with other drugs such as paracetamol in Co-codamol and Co-dydramol.

Methadone is a synthetic opioid which used in the treatment of opioid dependency.

When not prescribed and purchased on the street it is often called skag, smack, gear or shit.

They are generally injected but can come in the form of tablets, linctus or illicit powders.


How Heroin works in your body

Heroin and its associated drugs are analgesics that depress the central nervous system.

COCAINE POWDER AND NEEDLE

Acute Intoxication

Low to moderate doses will have the following effects:

  • Constricted pupils
  • Reduced heart rate
  • Reduced respiration
  • Suppression of the cough reflex
  • Constipation
  • Nausea
  • Drowsiness/sleep

Higher doses can result in

  • Respiratory arrest
  • Loss of consciousness
  • Death

Psychological Impact

  • Reduced anxiety
  • Pain relief
  • Euphoria
  • Contentment
  • Lack of concentration

When used with alcohol it can be a particularly dangerous combination.

Long term use can result in addiction/dependency. Tolerance is also increased and if a long term user is prevent from use ie periods of imprisonment and they return to their last dose before incarceration they could suffer a fatal overdose. The psychological dependence is severe and lasts long after the physical withdrawal symptoms have passed. As such relapse is very common.


Prescribed Heroin/Morphine

There is a defence that has been introduced under S5A(3) of the Road Traffic Act 1988 which states that if a drug is prescribed for medical or dental reasons and taken in accordance with any directions by the Doctor, Dentist or consultant and also the manufacturers instructions. The drugs must also be being used legally ie not prescribed to another.


Heroin and Driving

The early symptoms of driving will have the following effects:

  • Higher Risk taking: pulling out in front of vehicles, taking dangerous overtakes, driving faster
  • Poor judgement: impulsive behaviour –behaves erratically when confronted with a dangerous situation.

These heightened symptoms only last a short period of time and then the after effects will kick in and these lead the following issues:

  • Slower reaction time: greater distance will be travelled before reacting and there is an increased risk of a collision.
  • Lack of coordination: inability to manage vehicle when driving and react appropriately to an emergency.
  • Reduced concentration: miss road signs – traffic lights
  • Decreased vision: “snow lights” which affect your peripheral vision is common place with cocaine users which means that a driver can miss signs, fail to see pedestrians and other road dangers.

Methadone and codeine based prescribed drugs will not adversely affect driving unless taken in excessive quantities


The legal limit for Heroin/Methodone

The Govt introduced specific legal limits for both illicit and prescribed drugs in March 2015 when the offence of driving above the specified limit for drugs was introduced.

The specified limit for Heroin/Morphine is 5ug/L blood.This is a measurement that is 10,000 fold lower than the analysis for alcohol and the analysis is not subject to the type approval or a presumption that the result is correct. This leads to greater uncertainty in results.

The government did not accept the recommended levels which were set in the Wolff report. The report recommended that the level for Morphine should be 80ug at which they determined a driver would be impaired.*2

The recommended level for methadone was higher at 500ug/L, the legal limit is also set at this level because it is as a rule a prescribed medication to treat heroin addiction.


Defences for driving over the legal limit for Heroin and associated drugs.

Laboratories have struggled to effectively analyse blood samples. There have been two laboratories recently which have lost their accreditation due to errors in their analysis of blood samples. Approximately 4,000 cases have been re-opened and convictions set aside as a result.

It is not a perfect science and you cannot assume that the prosecution analysis is 100% accurate it isn’t.


What to look for?

There a number of tell tale signs in the analytical data pack (ADP) which would indicate the result are unreliable.

  • Has the laboratory deducted the allowance from the result – this is the allowed margin of error. If not then your result may be below the specified level.
  • Does the laboratory have the proper accreditation which is the validation process which examines their processes to ensure their accuracy in analysing blood samples.
  • Poor labelling and lack of continuity. All vials must be labelled correctly and followed through the analysis sometimes this gets muddled up and the prosecution cannot prove that the sample tested was the defendants.
  • Has the data input been accurate if there is a “data anomaly” it will usually lead to inaccurate results.
  • Failings in the quality control sample – each batch of samples must have a control sample to be measured against if this is contaminated in any way the whole batch would usually need to be re-tested but usually isn’t. Such contamination would lead to higher results and render the results unreliable.
  • Have they calibrated the results and equipment accurately. The laboratories must test and calibrate their analytical instruments daily. These results must fall within a recommendation range or standard deviation. These are resulted in the form of graphs on the ADP which can be examined and the deviation checked to see if they fall within the recommended range if not the batch should have been re-tested because the results will not be reliable. Laboratories seldom re-test because it is not profitable to do so their margins for profit are so small.


Procedural Issues

The prosecution must follows the procedure to the letter, there include:

  1. Compliance with S15 Road Traffic Offenders Act 1988 which specifies how blood samples should be taken and what should be done with them after.
    https://roadtrafficdefencelawyers.co.uk/2023/03/14/the-importance-of-keeping-your-blood-sample-taken-by-the-police/
  2. Lack of continuity of the sample. The police must be able to show that the sample tested was your sample and failure to label correctly can break the continuity and offer a defence.
  3. Failure to disclose evidence which will assist the us as the defence or undermine the prosecution case. The prosecution often fail to serve evidence within a specified period of time and this can lead to arguments to exclude vital prosecution evidence such as the expert report.


Post Driving Consumption

Many drivers say that when the police are indicating them to stop driving, they panic because they are in possession of heroin so having stopped their vehicle and before the police reach them they take the heroin

This is a defence but we would have to prove this on a balance of probabilities. We would have to show that but for the heroin you consumed you would have been under the limit. If done successfully you would be found not guilty and your case would be dismissed.

The police may have body worn video evidence which will either show that you may have taken heroin or had the time to take heroin. Equally it may also show that it was impossible for you to take the cocaine.

You will usually need expert evidence to show that but for the heroin taken after driving you would not have been over the limit.

If you have taken drugs after being stopped then you should tell the police. It makes the argument of post driving consumption more believable.


Special reasons and heroin

Special reasons can be argued where you have unwittingly taken cannabis in order to avoid the mandatory minimum 12 months ban.

  • Medication containing heroin- some medications may contain heroin and this can be examined by one of our experts. It may also be applicable if you had surgery recently. Remember unless prescribed this will not be a statutory defence. You would have had to be unaware that you had taken heroin.
  • Laced drinks - usually you would have get the lacer to give evidence or provide some evidence to show that your drinks were laced. You would also have to produce expert evidence to show that but for the lacing element you would have been under the limit. This is easier to establish if you do not use drugs at all.


Reference

  1. Symptoms and Signs of Substance Misuse 3rd edition Margaret Stark, Jason Payne-Jamesm Michael Scott-Ham
  2. Wolff Report 2013