Feb
Are Alcoholics Unfairly Punished by Breathalyzers?
Posted on behalf of the firm.Alcoholism, a term coined in 1850, is defined by Merriam-Webster as “a chronic disorder marked by excessive and usually compulsive drinking of alcohol leading to psychological and physical dependence or addiction.” Considered a neurological disorder, some of the symptoms of alcoholism are psychological, such as anxiety, panic, hallucinations, and sleep disorders.
Large amounts of alcohol consumption also reduce sensitivity to alcohol, which means it will take more in the future to become “drunk.” Unsurprisingly, this means that alcoholics will have higher than normal blood-alcohol readings before they get as affected as non-drinkers.
What may be surprising, though, is that one of the reasons alcoholics will have higher blood-alcohol readings is specifically because they’re alcoholics.
This is because alcoholics have a different physiology in several important regards, one of which is that they produce far more acetaldehyde than non-alcoholics. Acetaldehyde is a compound produced in small amounts by the liver as a by-product of the metabolism of alcohol. Recently, alcohol has been found to metabolize in the lungs as well, and acetaldehyde is also produced there.
Recent evidence states that due to unique differences in each person’s physiology, the amount of acetaldehyde produced, and breathed into the breathalyzer, is different for each person. A study that focused on alcoholics showed that in alcoholics, the amount of acetaldehyde produced in the lungs and detected in the breath was between 5 and 55 times the level detected in non-alcoholics.
What this all boils down to is that while usually a good indicator of intoxication, breathalyzer tests are unfair towards alcoholics. They are unable to detect the difference between acetaldehyde and alcohol, and therefore alcoholics will almost always have falsely higher blood-alcohol readings.
If you have any questions about a recent breathalyzer reading during a DUI stop, contact a good lawyer as soon as possible, and see if you were unfairly tested.
