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You may not expect prescription medication to expose you to DUI charges. Yet in North Carolina, impairment rather than the legality of the substance or intent to break the law triggers criminal charges. If a prescribed medication impairs your ability to drive, you can be prosecuted under state law. That surprises some folks, who mistakenly believe following “doctor’s orders” and driving is OK.

How North Carolina Defines Prescription Medication DUI

Under N.C. Gen. Stat. § 20-138.1, someone commits the offense of impaired driving if they operate a vehicle while with a blood alcohol concentration of 0.08 or more or under the influence of an impairing substance, even if the substance is prescribed. The statute essentially bars the defense that a drug was legally prescribed if taking the medication adversely affects your mental or physical faculties to such extent there is a noticeable or appreciable impairment.

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Can Ketogenic Fasting Affect Your DWI Charges in North Carolina?

If you’re following ketogenic fasting, characterized by prolonged calorie and carbohydrate restriction, you may be unknowingly altering your body’s response to alcohol and potentially impacting DUI test results and associated criminal allegations of “drunk Medical lab technician analyzing DWI blood alcohol sample during ketogenic fasting investigation for impaired driving defense in North Carolina driving.”

While ketogenic fasting triggers autophagy, a natural cellular cleanup, it also indirectly influences glucose and cortisol levels, creating complex physiological interactions potentially relevant to impaired driving charges.

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DRE testimony has become a fixture in North Carolina’s most serious impaired driving cases, including felony death by vehicle and Police officer in courtroom testifying about drug recognition expert (DRE) testimony in North Carolina impaired driving case second-degree murder charges.

The Court of Appeals’ July 2025 opinion in North Carolina v. Moore provides essential guidance for lawyers, judges, and anyone facing charges based on drug impairment evidence. Understanding how DRE testimony is used, challenged, and scrutinized at trial can mean the difference between conviction and acquittal, and may shape plea negotiations and appellate strategy.

When legal charges involve both scientific analysis and complex courtroom questions, DRE testimony can have a significant impact on the outcome. At Powers Law Firm, clients facing felony death by vehicle, felony serious injury by vehicle, misdemeanor death by vehicle, and impaired driving charges trust our experience with serious criminal charges in Mecklenburg, Iredell, Union, Gaston, Lincoln, Rowan, and Stanly Counties. We review select cases across North Carolina. If your case hinges on technical or scientific evidence involving DRE testimony or allegations of drug impairment, please can TEXT or call 704-342-4357 to schedule a confidential consultation.

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North Carolina’s concealed carry law may be on the verge of a historic change. Presently, you must still have a valid permit to carry aNorth Carolina concealed carry law infographic showing the legislative process for the 2025 permitless concealed carry bill, including the role of the legislature, governor’s veto, and override on a map of North Carolina concealed handgun. On July 29, 2025, the North Carolina Senate voted to override Governor Stein’s veto of Senate Bill 50, known as the “Freedom to Carry NC” act. In order for the law to go into effect, the NC House must also vote to override the veto by a three-fifths majority.

Until both chambers of the NC General Assembly vote to override the Governor’s veto, the existing concealed carry permit requirement remains in full force. As the law now stands, anyone who carries a concealed handgun in North Carolina without a valid permit or legal authority, is still subject to criminal prosecution.

If you are facing criminal charges, are under investigation in the Charlotte metro region, including Mecklenburg and Union County, and want more information about carrying a concealed weapon charges, contact Powers Law Firm for experienced, confidential guidance. TEXT or call now: 704-342-4357

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I’d already had a rough day when I got the text from my wife sharing Fergie passed.  James-Fergie-Ferguson

“Dang,” was the only thing I could respond.

I was without words.

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Intermittent fasting has gained popularity for a range of personal and medical reasons, from weight management and metabolic INTERMITTENT-FASTING-AND-DRUNK-DRIVING-BAC-NORTH-CAROLINA health to religious observance and athletic discipline. While it may offer certain physiological benefits, fasting also triggers changes in the body’s metabolic pathways that may complicate the interpretation of forensic alcohol testing in DWI cases.

This can become relevant in North Carolina, where the outcome of driving while impaired charges hinge on the reliability of breath or blood alcohol test results.

Defense attorneys, prosecutors, judges, and forensic experts are occasionally called to consider whether intermittent fasting affects the body’s internal chemistry and the resulting reported BAC.

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One of the most common questions criminal defense lawyers hear is, “Why am I still being charged if the alleged victim wants to drop CASE-DISMISSED-WHO-DECIDES-IN-NORTH-CAROLINA the charges?”

It’s a fair question. If the person who called the police doesn’t want to go forward, why would the court system care? In North Carolina criminal court, the decision to prosecute does not belong to the victim.

Whether you’ve been charged with assault on a female, communicating threats, damage to property, affray, or a violation of a Domestic Violence Protective Order (DVPO), the State, not the complaining witness, decides whether the case moves forward or to drop charges.

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If you’re facing charges in North Carolina, there’s a good chance your case will not be resolved on the first court date, and therefore, CASE-CONTINUANCE-NORTH-CAROLINA-COURT-CALENDAR you will need a continuance. It might be continued again, and again after that. Whether you’re charged with DWI in Mecklenburg County or facing a felony in Union County, continuances are part of the system.

Some clients ask, “Why is my case taking so long?” not realizing that continuances often help the defense more than they help the State. They wonder if the judge is overlooking something or if the system just doesn’t care. Some assume a continuance means something is wrong. In reality, it’s usually the opposite.

In criminal and DWI courtrooms across North Carolina, continuances are rarely about delay for its own sake. They result from crowded dockets, incomplete discovery, unavailable officers or witnesses, scheduling conflicts, or system failures that no one in the courtroom controls.

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Criminal defendants expect the legal system to deliver fairness. Our courts are designed to deliver legal compliance with the laws of the State of North Carolina, our state LEGAL-BUT-UNFAIR WOMAN SITTING IN JAIL CELL constitution, and the US Constitution, not necessarily fair results or what some facing criminal charges might believe is just or true “justice.”

A prosecutor can legally offer a favorable plea to one defendant while demanding jail time for another charged with a very similar offense. Absent obvious discrimination based on protected characteristics or clear constitutional violations, prosecutorial discretion is substantial.

Judges can sentence different defendants to vastly different outcomes based on judicial and sentencing philosophy, the timing of the case, or simply how the Court (the Judge) interprets the factual recitation. They, too, possess substantial discretion in entering a judgment and sentencing someone to jail or prison.

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Should Eyelid Tremor Be Used to Prove Cannabis Impairment in North Carolina?

Drug-Impaired-Driving-Evidence-North-Carolina EYELID TREMOR

For years, the Drug Recognition Evaluator (DRE) protocol has relied on a structured set of physical observations to evaluate suspected drug impairment. Among these, the presence of eyelid tremor has been taught as a supposed sign of recent cannabis use. In practice, that means law enforcement officers conducting roadside evaluations or testifying in court may point to an eyelid tremor as evidence supporting probable cause or impairment. But as a recent study published in Clinical Toxicology makes clear, the scientific foundation for this assumption is, at best, unproven. At worst, it is affirmatively misleading.

In a 2024 peer-reviewed clinical research article by George Sam Wang and colleagues, the authors conducted a carefully controlled, blinded study to evaluate whether eyelid tremor could reliably and accurately be identified as a marker of recent cannabis use. The conclusion was clear. Eyelid tremor does not correlate with cannabis ingestion in a scientifically defensible way. Inter-rater reliability was poor to moderate. Specificity was dismal. And perhaps most importantly for DWI defense lawyers, the entire protocol used by officers to “spot” this supposed indicator would not come close to passing scientific muster in any peer-reviewed laboratory setting.

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