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Drug DUI costs: the same fine schedule, a harder case to price

A DUI built on drugs rather than alcohol — a DUID — usually rides on the same penalty statute as an alcohol DUI, so the published fines are often identical. What changes is everything around the fine: there is no 0.08-style number for most drugs, testing is a blood draw rather than a breath test, and evaluation and treatment conditions are set case by case. This page prices the components that are actually published and names the ones that are not.

Arizona: drug DUI priced by the general DUI statute

Arizona charges drug-impaired driving under A.R.S. § 28-1381(A)(1) — driving while impaired to the slightest degree by alcohol, drugs or a combination — and, for listed drugs and their metabolites, § 28-1381(A)(3). A first offense is a Class 1 misdemeanor with the statute's standard financial structure: a base fine of at least $250, plus two $500 statutory assessments (a $500 prison-construction assessment and a $500 public-safety equipment assessment), plus surcharges, within a maximum fine of $2,500. Published first-offense totals built from those components typically land between about $1,600 and $2,500 before attorney, treatment and interlock costs.

Two Arizona specifics matter for marijuana cases. Since Proposition 207, marijuana impairment is prosecuted under the (A)(1) impairment prong — the state must show actual impairment, not merely the presence of a metabolite, which can linger long after any impairment ends. And an ignition interlock, mandatory on alcohol DUIs, may not be required on a drug-only DUI, removing one of the standard cost layers — while drug screening and any treatment the screening produces are added instead, at provider prices no statute publishes.

California: Vehicle Code 23152(f) and the standard fine range

California separates the theory, not the price. Vehicle Code § 23152(f) makes it unlawful to drive under the influence of any drug, and § 23152(g) covers combined alcohol and drug influence. A first conviction carries the same fine range as a first alcohol DUI — $390 to $1,000 plus penalty assessments, which multiply the base fine substantially — with county jail exposure of up to six months, probation, and a license suspension. Repeat convictions within 10 years are priced under the same escalation sections as alcohol DUIs.

California has no per-se THC or prescription-drug concentration in § 23152, so DUID cases turn on observed impairment and toxicology rather than a number. Financially that matters in one specific way: the evaluation, and any drug program the court orders on probation, is where the drug case's distinctive costs sit, and those are set by the program provider and the court's order — not by a published state fee schedule. This page therefore reports them as unpriced components rather than attaching an invented statewide figure.

Sources: A.R.S. § 28-1381 (Arizona Legislature); California Vehicle Code §§ 23152(f)–(g), 23536 (California Legislative Information); NHTSA guidance on drug-impaired driving (no per-se THC threshold). Last verified: October 2026.

Testing, evaluation and treatment: the unpriced layers

A drug DUI usually requires a blood draw, and in many agencies a drug-recognition evaluation by a specially trained officer. Those are public-agency costs; drivers are not billed a published fee for the evaluation itself, although some jurisdictions bill lab or blood-draw costs in individual cases under local rules — if a bill like that appears in your case, it comes from the local court's cost schedule, not a state DUID statute, and should be checked against that schedule.

Treatment is the largest unpriced layer. Courts commonly order a substance-use assessment and whatever level of treatment the assessment recommends, from an education course (priced like the programs on our DUI classes page) to outpatient or residential treatment billed at provider rates. Because no official source publishes a DUID treatment price, we do not estimate one. What is fixed and quotable in advance is the fine-and-assessment structure in the table — everything beyond it should be budgeted as variable, not averaged.

Common questions

Is a marijuana DUI cheaper than an alcohol DUI?

Not in the fine schedule — Arizona and California price a first drug DUI on the same structure as a first alcohol DUI. The differences are in the surrounding layers: interlock may not apply to a drug-only case, while screening and treatment conditions usually do.

Can you get a DUI for a prescription drug taken as directed?

Yes, in impairment-based states. Arizona's (A)(1) and California's § 23152(f) turn on impairment, not on whether the drug was lawfully possessed. A valid prescription is not, by itself, a complete answer to an impairment charge.

Is there a legal THC limit like 0.08 for alcohol?

Not in Arizona or California — neither sets a per-se THC concentration for the offenses above. A small number of other states do set THC limits; check your state's statute rather than assuming the alcohol model applies.

Sources: A.R.S. § 28-1381; California Vehicle Code §§ 23152(f)–(g), 23536; NHTSA drug-impaired driving guidance. Last verified: October 2026. This page is educational information about costs only — not legal advice. Laws and fees change; confirm current figures with your court and your state's driver-licensing agency.