Drug Crimes, Substance Abuse under the influence

[56lucy]

Last night while sitting in the passenger sit my friend got pulled over for a broken head light (in San Diego CA). After his situation was cleared one of the officers asked me to exit the car and started asking me a lot of questions accusing me for being under the influence. To make a long story short I ended up getting arrested for the charge: 11550(A) HS.
My questions are
1: if I was not driving, not disturbing the peace, not even walking in public why did I get arrested for being under the influence
2: what should I expect next (considering I have prior record regarding drugs and also assuming the drug test I took after getting arrested would reveal the truth… that I was under the influence)
Thank you very much in advance

 

[mightymoose]

HS 11550 does not care where you were- it is illegal to be under the influence of certain drugs no matter where you are. You were considered under the influence because the officer performed and evaluation and found certain symptoms that indicated the presence of drugs.

You can expect probation, classes, and fines. Make sure you do the classes and do any community work you are assigned or else a warrant will be issued and you will end up back in jail.

Where you blew it here was when you got out of the car. Police don't like it when you say this... but next time, try telling them "No, I don't want to talk to you." They may insist, and if they do then you need to comply, but if you make a scene of it and make repeatedly indicate that you do not want to speak to them but will comply with their orders, then they can not later claim that their contact with you was with your consent.

This bust will be good because you willingly cooperated and essentially consented to the officer's evaluation when you got out of the car. Had you said no and not gotten out of the car, the officer would have had to find more of a reason to compel you to do so... legally anyway.