If your stop involved suspected drugs rather than, or in addition to, alcohol, the field sobriety exercises still matter, and everything on this site about how they are administered, scored, and affected by conditions and medical issues applies the same way. The exercises do not change because the suspected substance does. What changes is what the State stacks on top of them.
This page is a short bridge, on purpose. The drug-specific analysis is detailed enough to live in its own section, and that is where this site keeps it. The physical exercises remain lay observations whether the case is alcohol or drugs, so everything you have read here about their weaknesses still holds.
In a drug case the roadside exercises are only the start. The eye findings, the drug recognition evaluation, and the toxicology are covered in depth in the drugged driving section.
What a drug case adds
A drug DUI usually brings three additional layers. There are the eye findings, which the State ties to particular drug categories. There is often a drug recognition evaluation, a twelve-step process an officer uses to identify a category of drug. And there is a blood or urine toxicology result. Each of those has real weaknesses, and each is covered where the analysis belongs, in the drugged driving section.
Where to read next
If drugs are part of your case, the roadside exercises are only the opening, and the real fight is over the eyes, the drug recognition evaluation, and the toxicology, which is where I take it apart in depth. Start with the drugged driving pages below, because that is where this analysis continues, covering how the field sobriety exercises are used in a drug case, how the eye test interacts with drug categories, how a drug recognition evaluation can be taken apart, and what a toxicology number does and does not show.
I started out as an Assistant Public Defender in Florida’s Thirteenth Judicial Circuit, in Tampa, and today I am one of six ACS-CHAL Forensic Lawyer-Scientists in Florida and an NHTSA-qualified field sobriety instructor. I was trained to administer this battery and to teach the officers who give it, so I can stand in front of a jury and show the exact point where the roadside exercises in your case left the standard. Learn more about my background.
Questions About Field Sobriety in a Drug Case
Do field sobriety exercises apply in a drug DUI?
Yes. The same administration, scoring, medical, and environmental challenges apply when drugs rather than alcohol are suspected, because the exercises themselves are the same. The drug-specific issues are layered on top.
What is different about a drug case?
The State adds the eye findings tied to drug categories, often a drug recognition evaluation, and a blood or urine toxicology result. Each of those has its own weaknesses, which the drugged driving section covers in detail.
Does HGN show drug impairment?
The eye test is presented as sensitive to certain drug categories, but it has the same limits and false-positive problems discussed elsewhere on this site, and the drug eye analysis continues in the drugged driving section.
What is a drug recognition expert?
An officer trained in a twelve-step evaluation meant to identify drug impairment and a drug category. That evaluation can be analyzed and cross-examined, and the drugged driving section explains how.
Where should I read next?
If your case involves drugs, start with the drugged driving overview and the pages on field sobriety in a drug case, HGN and drugs, and the drug recognition expert.
Related: the drugged driving overview, field sobriety tests in a drug case, HGN and drugs, the drug recognition expert, and field sobriety in your case.
This page is general information, not legal advice, and it does not create an attorney-client relationship. Field sobriety exercises in Florida are governed by case law and by section 316.193, Florida Statutes. Procedures and rules change, and every case turns on its own facts. Past results do not guarantee a similar outcome.
