State v. Rifkin

Defendant was charged with operating a motor vehicle while under the influence of drugs, 23 V.S.A. § 1201(a) (3), after his jeep left an icy road and lodged in the snow. The Vermont State Police officer who investigated testified at trial to a number of symptoms displayed by the defendant at the scene. Defendant, a reformed alcoholic, was taking a prescription drug to control his drinking which can cause at least some of the symptoms he exhibited. He told the officer that 30 minutes before the accident he had smoked half a marijuana cigarette. At trial he repudiated this statement, saying he…