For questions or for an initial free consultation, call premier DUI and DWI defense attorney Charles Jerome Ware at (410) 720-6129 or (410) 730-5016. He can help you win your DUI or DWI case.
The Physiology of Intoxication
Ethanol, or ethyl alcohol (grain alcohol), is one of the earliest and most widely used drugs in existence. It is a clear fluid whose low molecular weight and high solubility in water cause it to diffuse rapidly through body tissue membranes and reach equilibrium in tissue at levels proportional to water content. Blood, for example, will hold proportionately more alcohol than will muscle tissue.
For alcohol to produce its effect, it must reach the brain. To accomplish this, it must first pass into the blood stream after absorption through the walls of the stomach and small intestines. This is a simple biochemical process of of diffusion, which will continue as long as the concentration of alcohol in the stomach and intestines is higher than that in the blood.
Blood alcohol analysis, then, is simply the attempt to measure the amount by weight of alcohol within the subject's blood at any given time. This amount, expressed as a percentage of the blood in which it is found, is then compared to a scale of percentages established by law for determining the presumptive levels of intoxication.
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