Commonwealth v. Wallace

After taking chlordiazepoxide, 1 a medication prescribed by his physician, the defendant was involved in an automobile accident. At his trial on complaints charging him with operating a motor vehicle “while under the influence of” drugs (G. L. c. 90, § 24[l][a] 2 ) and with operating “a [motor] vehicle negligently so that the lives or safety of the public might be endangered” (G. L. c. 90, § 24[2] [a] 3 ), the defendant was precluded, on objection by the Commonwealth, from introducing evidence that he had no knowledge of the effects of the medication and that he had not received warnings…