NCGS 20-138.1

December 14, 2025

The “Per Se” DWI Narrative in North Carolina | Impaired Driving Law

Search the phrase “per se DWI North Carolina,” and the results look deceptively confident. AI summaries and legal directories will tell you that if your blood test hits a certain number, a conviction is inevitable.

It is not the language of the statute. It is not the language used to instruct juries. It is a mantra of sorts that has been repeated so often it now masquerades as doctrine.

North Carolina’s DWI statute does not use the phrase per se impairment for alcohol or marijuana, and North Carolina’s jury instructions do not tell juries that a specific number automatically requires a finding of guilt. That phrase does not appear anywhere in N.C.G.S. 20-138.1.

December 5, 2025

North Carolina Drug DWI | North Carolina Drugged Driving Charges

by Carolina Attorneys

Drug-based DWI prosecutions in North Carolina operate under an evidentiary framework that differs substantially from alcohol enforcement. In DUI cases involving drugs (sometimes called DUID – driving under the influence of drugs) or “drugged driving” by the general public, the forensic analysis and legal issues tend to be significantly more complex.

Unlike alcohol, for which decades of research have provided relatively clear thresholds (like 0.08 BAC) and relatively well-understood pharmacology, psychoactive drugs present a diverse and evolving challenge.

Alcohol impairment is supported by decades of controlled laboratory research, standardized psychomotor testing models, and population-level epidemiology that correlate rising blood alcohol concentrations with relatively predictable losses of cognitive and motor functioning at certain BAC levels.

November 5, 2025

Auto-Brewery Syndrome DWI North Carolina

by Carolina Attorneys

The Limits of Chemical Certainty: The Auto-Brewery Syndrome & DWI Charges

Auto-Brewery Syndrome (ABS) remains a bit of a theoretical curiosity. It represents a measurable biochemical anomaly during which yeast or bacteria residing in the gastrointestinal tract convert carbohydrates into ethanol within the human body.

Though somewhat rare, it is medically documented, scientifically verifiable in some instances, and possibly legally consequential, at least relative to DUI charges in North Carolina.