---
title: O.C.G.A. § 16-3-4. Intoxication.
collection: code
id: 16-3-4
cite_as: O.C.G.A. § 16-3-4 (2025)
canonical_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/16-3-4
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text_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/16-3-4/text
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date: 2025
status: active
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publisher: Georgia Commons, an independent project of Georgia Civic Data. Not the State of Georgia. Not legal advice.
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current_through: Including Acts of the 2025 Regular Session of the General Assembly
heading_path: CRIMES AND OFFENSES / DEFENSES TO CRIMINAL PROSECUTIONS / RESPONSIBILITY
---

# O.C.G.A. § 16-3-4. Intoxication.

(a) A person shall not be found guilty of a crime when, at the time of the act, omission, or negligence constituting the crime, the person, because of involuntary intoxication, did not have sufficient mental capacity to distinguish between right and wrong in relation to such act.

(b) Involuntary intoxication means intoxication caused by:

(1) Consumption of a substance through excusable ignorance; or

(2) The coercion, fraud, artifice, or contrivance of another person.

(c) Voluntary intoxication shall not be an excuse for any criminal act or omission.

## History

Laws 1833, Cobb’s 1851 Digest, p. 779; Code 1863, § 4197; Code 1868, § 4236; Code 1873, § 4301; Code 1882, § 4301; Penal Code 1895, § 39; Penal Code 1910, § 39; Code 1933, § 26-403; Code 1933, § 26-704, enacted by Ga. L. 1968, p. 1249, § 1.

## Cross References

Voidable nature of contracts made by intoxicated persons, § 13-3-25. Mental capacity as it relates to competency to stand trial and as it relates to culpability for criminal acts, §§ 17-7-130, 17-7-131. Driving under influence of alcohol or drugs, § 40-6-391.

## Law Reviews

For article discussing the theory of insanity in criminal law, see 15 Mercer L. Rev. 399 (1964).