Colombian law does not define scientifically the requirements for definition of the state of intoxication of a defendant. To assess the general judicial definition in use, a 25-question survey, requiring mostly yes-no answers, was mailed to 200 judges and public prosecutors; 70 responded. The questions were arranged in five groups, depending upon the question difficulty and level of knowledge required for response; the last group consisted of two open-ended questions on how to improve the system regarding determination of intoxication. Rather than admit lack of knowledge, most respondents answered questions incorrectly. General results indicated that only 65 percent of respondents could adequately answer the questions, 51.3 percent considered the correct medical determination of intoxication as important to a case, and 43 percent preferred to use a blood alcohol chemical analysis for determination of intoxication. It is concluded that Colombian judges and public prosecutors need more scientific education on scientific ways to determine defendant intoxication as well as more information on the judicial importance of this determination. 1 reference