Just about everyone is having a field day commenting on a former MADD chapter president's DUI arrest in Gainsville, Florida. "Oh, the irony!" they chortle. Not me. I don't think anyone's DUI arrest is funny in the least. I do have plenty of bones to pick with MADD, mostly about how they have changed from a group who strove to keep drunk people from driving into a gigantic lobbying/special interest group bent on making it illegal for anyone to drive after looking cross-eyed at a beer. However, one person's bad decision, no matter how ironic, is not something to make fun of.

One of the articles about her arrest mentioned she told the arresting officer that she had drunk 4 beers. For women, that is definitely going to put you over the legal limit (which MADD lobbying helped set nation-wide). But I couldn't help but reflect on a study I recently came across that discussed why women can't drink as much as men: apparently, women produce less of a particular stomach enzyme, that has been found to break down alcohol, than men. In this study, women were found to reach the same levels of blood alcohol as men after drinking only half as much. With weight differences taken into account, they found that women reached BAC levels illegal in a DUI case after drinking 20 to 30 percent less alcohol than men. It's not just our petite size, we really can't handle alcohol the same as men.

So ladies (even ladies who think you will never need this advice because you belong to MADD) remember: you can't drink 4 beers and then drive. Although frankly, I find it hard to believe anyone could blow a .239 on just 4 beers...

Atlanta DUI Lawyers Clark & Towne

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