Driving under the influence

In 2014, when a 19-year-old Justin Bieber was pulled over for racing his Lamborghini around Miami, the police chief said the songster admitted to having marijuana, alcohol and prescription drugs in his system. At that time, no one was surprised that he was snagged for driving under the influence (“I’m a different person now,” he said recently). But did you ever think you could be that reckless? It turns out many folks have no idea that their prescription medications make driving dangerous and put them at risk for a DUI arrest.

A recent 2017 study looked at data from the 2013-14 National Roadside Survey, in which drivers across America were asked about drug use, including prescription drugs. Almost 20 per cent said they’d recently taken a prescription medication and yet were unaware the medication could affect their driving.

And yet another 2015 study found that the prevalence of drivers with prescription opioids in their systems at the time of death from a car accident surged from one per cent in 1995 to 7.2 per cent in 2015.

Opioids are a big risk when you’re driving (around 35 per cent of adult Americans were given a painkiller prescription by medical providers last year). So are other legitimately prescribed meds like antidepressants, sedative hypnotics (including diazepam/Valium and others), antihistamines (Benadryl), decongestants, sleeping pills and medical marijuana.

They can compromise your reaction time, so read the warnings on medications and ask your doc about driving risks associated with medications and combinations of medications so that you’re not a danger to yourself and others.

Mehmet Oz, M.D. is host of “The Dr. Oz Show,” and Mike Roizen, M.D. is Chief Wellness Officer and Chair of Wellness Institute at Cleveland Clinic. To live your healthiest, tune in to “The Dr. Oz Show” or visit www.sharecare.com.