Driving license and narcotics
Criminal defense attorney Munich

Your legal assistance in drug-related offenses

Driving License and Narcotics

Proceedings in Drug Law often involve more than just a punishment under the Narcotics Act. There is a risk of an additional penalty in addition to the actual sentence, because another relevant criminal offense arises from traffic law: According to Section 69 of the German Criminal Code (StGB), courts can revoke the accused’s driving license as a secondary criminal consequence for drug offenses. In addition, the responsible administrative authority also has broad legal discretion to order the revocation of a driver’s license.

When can a driver’s license be revoked and by whom?

Narcotics Offense

Judges can revoke a driver’s license as Criminal Consequences, for example, revoke if:

• someone is convicted of drunk driving – which includes the use of narcotics.
• a road traffic hazard is proven. The offense must be directly related to the use of narcotics and road traffic. More specifically: If someone drives under the influence of drugs, this is initially considered a serious traffic violation, but not a criminal offense. A criminal offense occurs when a danger to road traffic occurs due to the use of drugs while driving. Depending on the individual case, fines or even imprisonment may be imposed in addition to the revocation of the driver’s license.
• Narcotics violations have no connection to road traffic, such as the Narcotics Act offenses of possession and trafficking. The reason for revoking a driver’s license is that, in the court’s opinion, the convicted person is unfit to drive a motor vehicle.

The administrative authority can order the revocation of a driver’s license due to an offense under the Narcotics Act (BtMG) or the Criminal Code (StGB) – which in practice occurs much more frequently than a corresponding judicial measure, especially in Munich and throughout Bavaria.

The traditional traffic stop plays a crucial role here; it can have very serious consequences: If the police detect drug use during a traffic stop and initiate administrative offense proceedings, the responsible law enforcement authority forwards the file to the driver’s license office. This office revokes the driver’s license in a separate procedure. Typically, this also means that those affected must undergo a medical-psychological examination (MPU) to regain their driver’s license. The prerequisite for admission to the MPU is proof of one year of drug abstinence.

If the drug use detected during a traffic stop is proven to be harder drugs (e.g., cocaine, heroin, amphetamines), even a single use may be sufficient to revoke a driver’s license. When it comes to cannabis consumption, the authorities are somewhat more tolerant: In addition to the current THC level, the THC-COOH level is also tested. This level allows conclusions to be drawn about past drug use. A driver’s license will only be revoked if the THC-COOH level indicates regular cannabis use (at least twice a month). If it can be proven that cannabis products are not consumed regularly (either once or occasionally), those affected are usually allowed to keep their driver’s license.