§ 29-A §2525 — Drug impairment assessment

1.
Submission to test required.
If a drug recognition expert has probable cause to believe that a person is under the influence of a specific category of drug, a combination of specific categories of drugs or a combination of alcohol and one or more specific categories of drugs, that person must submit to a blood or urine test selected by the drug recognition expert to confirm that person's category of drug use and determine the presence of the drug.
2.
Admissibility of evidence.
If a law enforcement officer certified as a drug recognition expert by the Maine Criminal Justice Academy conducts a drug impairment assessment, the officer's testimony about that assessment is admissible in court as evidence of operating under the influence of intoxicants. Test results showing a confirmed positive drug or metabolite in the blood or urine are admissible as evidence of operating under the influence of intoxicants. Failure to comply with any provision of this section does not, by itself, result in the exclusion of evidence of test results, unless the evidence is determined to be not sufficiently reliable.
3.
Payment for tests.
A person authorized to take specimens of blood at the direction of a law enforcement officer or to perform tests on specimens of blood or breath must be paid from the Highway Fund.
4.
Repeal.

Legislative History

PL 1993, c. 683, §A2 (NEW). PL 1993, c. 683, §B5 (AFF). PL 1995, c. 145, §2 (AMD). PL 2011, c. 335, §14 (AMD).