Pre-Trial Drug Testing?

awhellcastiel

Sorry if this has already been discussed here, surprised but I can't find the answer online anywhere. I'm a first year law student and people I know keep asking me for advice I have no idea how to give.

If someone is going to District Court after being arrested for selling weed, should they expect to be drug tested? I don't really want to give an answer unless I know for sure.

Peregrinus

I don't see why they would be drug-tested. The charge is supplying, and whether they themselves are actually using the drug is irrelevant to a charge of supplying. Even if it were relevant, you can't normally be compelled to give evidence against yourself, which is what requiring you to submit to a drug test amounts to.

There are exceptions, the most obvious being the laws which allow the guards to administer breathalysers, blood tests, etc to drivers, or - I',m pretty sure we have this in Ireland now, but I could be wrong - the guards can get a warrant requiring a person to provide a DNA sample. But I'm not aware of anything that would authorise mandatory drug testing in this context.

Mr. Incognito

No they wont.

If people ask you for legal advice say that you are a student and you don't know.

I wouldnt ask a first year medical student for an appendectomy

Samuel T. Cogley

I very good thing to say is: "the first thing they teach you in law school is not to give legal advice".

In my 'law school' it was actually that having lots of unprotected sex leads to 'the scratchies' - I leaned this lesson well and had almost no sex at all.

awhellcastiel

Thanks very much for the good advice. The point about the first year med student is putting it perfectly- a few months into my degree I'm really, really unqualified to give out advice that could affect someones' life. I'm going to ask in my next tutorial just to absolutely confirm (which I should have done in the first place) and I will pass this on since I promised I would, but from now on I think I'll just use the appendectomy line and tell people to get themselves to someone who acrually knows the law.

troll_a_roll

Consuming drugs is not a crime as far as I know.

Possessing drugs is a crime, as is selling them etc.

But mere consumption is not a crime. Therefore, a drugs test would be pointless.



As a legal question, do you not still possess drugs which are inside your body?

In other words, after consuming drugs you still possess them, just on the inside of your body rather than on the outside.
If the drugs are in a bag while in your body and they come out essentially unchanged you are then back in possesion of them, in contravention of the law.
If the drugs remained in your body in a bag would you be breaching any laws?


The UK have made some substances which are naturally produced in your body illegal.
I can't recall the name but it is a drug produced by your brain during dreaming. If taken while awake you have surreal and disconnected experiences, like dreams. It doesn't sound pleasant but some people do take it.

Samuel T. Cogley

awhellcastiel wrote: »

Thanks very much for the good advice. The point about the first year med student is putting it perfectly- a few months into my degree I'm really, really unqualified to give out advice that could affect someones' life. I'm going to ask in my next tutorial just to absolutely confirm (which I should have done in the first place) and I will pass this on since I promised I would, but from now on I think I'll just use the appendectomy line and tell people to get themselves to someone who acrually knows the law.

Even with a law degree you're still really, really unqualified to give legal advice. Even as a retired solicitor, Judge or barrister with a glittering career of 50 years behind you focusing on nothing but idiots who some how manage to come to the attention of the guards over some hash, you're still unqualified to give legal advice.

The reason is insurance, everyone make mistakes. Hang around this forum long enough and you'll get to know the people who really know their stuff. Even they will be corrected on occasion, it happens. Don't give legal advice until you're insured to do so, and until you've done the law of Tort and fully understood the ramifications.

Don't confuse that with having conversations in the abstract with like minded people which is extremely useful in clarifying some of the topics you'll come across.

Peregrinus

troll_a_roll wrote: »

Consuming drugs is not a crime as far as I know.

Possessing drugs is a crime, as is selling them etc.

But mere consumption is not a crime. Therefore, a drugs test would be pointless.



As a legal question, do you not still possess drugs which are inside your body?

In other words, after consuming drugs you still possess them, just on the inside of your body rather than on the outside.
If the drugs are in a bag while in your body and they come out essentially unchanged you are then back in possesion of them, in contravention of the law.
If the drugs remained in your body in a bag would you be breaching any laws?

Need to get the terminology right here. If you do the old "swallow a condom full of heroin" trick with a view to excreting the condom and recovering the drugs, yes, you're guilty of "possession" at all points. But at no point have you "consumed" the drug.

"Consume" doesn't mean "swallow" or "secrete inside your body". It means "use up".

mynamejeff

awhellcastiel wrote: »

Sorry if this has already been discussed here, surprised but I can't find the answer online anywhere. I'm a first year law student and people I know keep asking me for advice I have no idea how to give.

If someone is going to District Court after being arrested for selling weed, should they expect to be drug tested? I don't really want to give an answer unless I know for sure.

they could be asked to provide clean samples their own doctor which in turn is used by their solicitor in mitigation

fyi gardai do nt need a warrant to obtain DNA , authorization from inspector or above while in custody for most offences will do

blindside88

OP, I'm in no way qualified to answer your question but I'm just wondering, what is the reason this person is asking if the Gardai can compel him/her to have a drug test? The first thought that came to my mind is that his/her defence is that the drugs were for personal use and not for sale or supply and they are now wondering if the gardai can require a drug test to prove this is false. I may be way off the mark with that but it's the only reason that I could see a drug test helping/hindering anything in a case of drugs for sale/supply

Peregrinus

Another possibility is that his defence/mitigation is going to be "I was just minding them for a friend! I had no idea what they were!" and this won't get him very far if he has to undergo a drug test and the result shows that he is using.

But we're just speculating here. If the charge here is not merely possession of cannabis but, as the OP suggests, possession with intent to supply, the OP's friend needs to find himself a real live lawyer, and not be relying on internet guesses and speculation relayed to him by his first-year law student friend.