Drug Offenses

Drug charges are scary. The accusation that you are a drug user or drug dealer can ruin your career, your reputation and your family life. The best way to deal with any drug case is to develop a comprehensive strategy with your attorney. If you have a drug case, you should only be hiring a criminal defense lawyer. Your family attorney that handled an estate, or divorce, or car accident in the past will not know how to properly deal with a drug case.

FELONY DRUG CASES

The most common felony charges are Conspiracy, Delivery of a controlled substance and Possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance. These are drug trafficking offenses and carry much longer sentencing exposure. Each of these has a very specific definition and the criminal defense lawyer that you hire should be able to tell you verbatim—without looking it up–how each is defined.

MISDEMEANOR DRUG CASES

The same is true for the misdemeanor drug offenses, including simple drug possession, possession of drug paraphernalia, and others. These offense carry much lower sentencing exposure. Equally important, judges tend to more concerned with a plan for drug treatment to prevent the person from continuing to use drugs.

SENTENCING

In drug cases, sentencing is greatly affected by the type of drug itself, and the weight of the drug. For example, fentanyl is treated much more harshly than marijuana. And obviously a person charged with 2 grams of a drug faces a different sentence and probably different charges altogether than someone charged with a pound of a drug. There can also be mandatory sentencing involved in certain drug cases, based upon any prior convictions and the weight of drugs involved.

POLICE & EVIDENCE

In drug cases, very often the main witnesses are police officers. It is important to understand police criminal procedure and the protocols and training of the police officers who prosecute drug cases in order to properly challenge the police. Some drug cases result from an arrest by a low-ranking patrol officer who simply pulled a car over and found drugs during a search, or found drugs on someone while arresting them for something else. In that type of case, the police weren’t already focused on that person or investigating them for drug activity. That is a case that is more easy to challenge, for a bunch of reasons.

On other hand, many drug cases, especially cases involving drug trafficking (felony) charges, are a result of organized undercover law enforcement conducing an ongoing investigation of a person or group. When the person is eventually pulled over in their car, or detained when police show up for a search warrant at their house, the person doesn’t always realize that there had been an ongoing investigation. Typically this type of case involves more evidence, but not always.

Undercover drug agents (whether police, task force, FBI, DEA, Attorney General) have more freedom to act as they please and are not always well-supervised. As a result, it is important to have experienced defense counsel who are not afraid to aggressively confront and cross-examine police in court proceedings.

MARIJUANA IN PENNSYLVANIA

Pennsylvania has not been on the forefront of marijuana legalization. A few years ago, Pennsylvania chose to legalize medical marijuana. However, recreational use is still illegal. Equally important, even though medical marijuana is legalized, a person cannot drive in Pennsylvania with THC (marijuana) in their system—that is a DUI. They also cannot be selling marijuana (or even giving it away to friends) because that is distribution, which is felony drug trafficking. If a person is found in possession of marijuana along with other items that is suggestive that the person may be selling, the police will often

consider charging the person with the trafficking offense of Possession with intent to deliver, which is a felony. In those cases, the person’s actual intent is what matters and what may be proved. These are almost always circumstantial cases for police—meaning the police do not know what was in the person’s mind in terms of intent but they simply are guessing what the intent was based on the circumstances.

WHAT EXACTLY IS POSSESSION OF A DRUG

The issue of what “possession” means comes up a lot in drug cases. In Pennsylvania, and in federal court, police must prove actual or constructive possession. These are somewhat complex topics, and you should have your lawyer thoroughly explain to you what they mean. The concept of “possession” can be challenged—but first you need to understand what it means before you can decide if there’s a challenge to raise. 

SEARCHES AND SEIZURES

Searches and seizures are governed by the 4 th Amendment to the Constitution. This is a complex area of law that many lawyers—even ones who occasionally do criminal defense—do not fully understand. I frequently have clients who tell me “the police didn’t even have probable cause to search my car” and I must tell them that that is speculation, and a fully analysis of the legality of a search requires very lengthy conversation with their attorney and the attorney must usually then do updated legal research before giving a full opinion about the validity of a search.

ADDICTION & TREATMENT

People charged with drug offenses often also have additions of their own. They may or may not be selling drugs on the side to support their own habit. The courts are interested in people being treated for addiction, especially if there is a documented history of addiction and possibly past treatment. The options for treatment center on where you live, what county you are charged in, whether you have any insurance (lacking insurance does not mean treatment is off the table), and many other factors. This is because drug treatment is expensive. However, courts are aware that it is comparatively more expensive to incarcerate someone than to have the person living in the community and engaging in treatment. Inpatient hospitalizations are a different matter and are extremely

expensive. 

Courts are open to discussing all options when there is a need for treatment, but because funding is always a central issue, it is important to have a local criminal defense attorney who understands the treatment options of the county where you are charged, and also understands how that particular court incorporates treatment into the overall case while it’s pending in the court. Your attorney should also understand the approach of the District Attorney in drug cases of that county in terms of incorporating drug treatment into the plan for the case.

If you are charged in a drug case in Lehigh County or Northampton County (or in federal court), get an attorney involved as soon as you can. If you call me for a consultation, I can talk it through with you to determine whether there are viable strategies and to get a realistic idea of what you could be facing. I have been doing criminal defense my entire legal career and have conducted over 116 jury trials. This is a huge amount of trials compared to many attorneys who claim to do criminal defense. When you contact potential lawyers, ask them how many jury trials they have conducted in a criminal court, and ask to see the list. If the lawyer cannot offer those high numbers, with cases cited, you should avoid them.