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By thoug, December 8, 2009 9:09 am

This blog entry should not be construed as a way to “cheat the system” or determine how much alcohol you can drink before you drive. The fact is, no alcohol should be consumed before you drive because even small amounts of alcohol can lead to terrible results including accidents and arrests.

The purpose of this blog is to provide a general overview of blood-alcohol content (BAC) for different types of drinks and body weights so that you can understand the “general” effects of alcohol on the body. Keep in mind that everyone is different and many factors affect your BAC, including the amount of food and water that you consume, etc.

For the Arizona Department of Public Safety chart above, one drink is considered to be any of the following: one 1-ounce shot of 86-proof liquor, 3 ounces of wine (which is a very small glass of wine) or one 12-ounce beer. Also, this chart assumes that a person is drinking and absorbing the amount of drinks on the top row (1 through 9 drinks) at about the same time.

Obviously, a person that weighs only 100 pounds will need to drink much less alcohol than someone who weighs 200 pounds to be “presumed under the influence.” In fact, according to the Arizona Department of Public Safety’s chart, a 100-pound person would need to drink only two drinks before they “may be impaired,” and only three drinks before they are “presumed under the influence.”

According to FORCON, a forensic consulting company, during typical social-type drinking, “the highest BAC is usually achieved within 30 minutes after completion of consumption, though it could take as long as 60 minutes. When large amounts of alcohol are consumed over a short time interval, or when a large quantity of food is eaten with the alcohol, the absorption phase may not be complete for up to two hours after last consumption.”

Therefore it’s no surprise that Arizona DUI law mandates that the highest BAC be considered “within 2 hours of driving.” Importantly, most people absorb about only .015 grams of alcohol per hour – the equivalent of less than one drink per hour for most people.