Los Angeles drivers drinking kombucha tea better watch out! Associated Press reports that some raw forms of the fermented tea have more than 0.5 percent alcohol, which is the legal limit in the U.S. for a drink not to be considered alcoholic.
For the past month, the government has reportedly been testing kombucha to determine if it should be labeled as an alcoholic like beer or wine. The beverage companies say that kombucha leaves the production process with almost no alcohol, but that alcohol can develop overtime in the unpasteurized versions of the drink, where sugars can be converted into alcohol.
Many people might remember Lindsay Lohan claiming that her alcohol monitoring bracelet went off because she was drinking kombucha tea. This leaves many Los Angeles DUI attorneys wondering if the kombucha drinks will become the latest excuse for drunk drivers on the road.
It's unlikely that drinking kombucha tea will leave enough alcohol in the body to be revealed through a blood-alcohol test. However, if the drink is consumed in large amounts before driving, it's possible that the drink could cause impairment and that the kombucha drinker could be charged with driving under the influence. Any person charged with a DUI after consuming kombucha tea should contact a Los Angeles DUI defense lawyer to be properly defended in court. A Los Angeles DUI attorney would probably be able to come up with a good defense strategy if a person was simply impaired from drinking kombucha tea.
Related Resources:
- Challenging the Validity of Blood Alcohol Content Tests (FindLaw KnowledgeBase)
- Locate a Los Angeles DUI Attoreny (FindLaw)
- California DUI Law (FindLaw)
