What to Do When Caught With Drugs
Possession of drugs is a criminal offense that can put you in an awkward spot from which it might seem difficult to defend. The first thing you should do is contact an attorney that specializes in these cases to start building your case while your memory is still fresh.
Luckily, with a good defense, the charges can easily be dropped. Being a recreational marijuana consumer myself, I always had to look over my shoulder if I wanted to smoke in public.
I wanted to know more about what happens when you are caught with marijuana and how to proceed, so I talked to an experienced criminal lawyer at Monder Law to learn about available options when building a defense.
Search and Seizure
An officer of the law can find drugs in your possession, but the question is whether they were authorised to do so, in other words, whether the search and seizure were performed legally, under rights provided by the Fourth Amendment.
For example, if you are pulled over and drugs are visible the officer may take action. These drugs can be used as evidence in court. However, the officer does not have the right to search your vehicle without a warrant or your permission. If they choose to do so, any drugs found can be dismissed as evidence.
This is why it is important to remember everything that occurred in your case and present that to your attorney with as many details as possible.
Drugs Weren’t Yours
This is one of the tactics used to make the prosecutors find a different angle in trying to prove that the drugs found really belonged to you. Whether mariujana found in your apartment or car belonged to you or other people who were with you on that day might be hard to prove, and a good attorney will know how to use this element to make it more difficult for prosecution to pinpoint you as an offender.
Drugs Aren’t Presented at Court
The case can be dismissed if prosecutors lack the evidence, or in this case, the drugs that were found in your possession. These things can happen more often than you think since the drugs have to move through bierocracy and other analysis in order to be valid for court.
There’s a long way the aforementioned drugs need to travel from the officer who confiscated it to the court hearing as evidence. This is why you can never be 100% sure the drugs will be presented as evidence.
Medicinal Marijuana
Depending on the State you are in and its laws, you can build your defence as having marijuana in your possession for medicinal use. The federal court might dismiss this, but if you are lucky to be in a state that has legalised marijuana for medicinal or recreational use, you can use that to create a strong case.
Some states might require a doctor's prescription, but sometimes it is enough to show other evidence of your health condition which can be valid enough to justify your need for marijuana treatment.
Don’t Hesitate To Contact Professionals
It is vital to contact an attorney as soon as you get in trouble. The more you wait, the harder it becomes to remember all the important details and holes in the case that might legitimately be used to dismiss the charges.
You are not expected to know the law and a range of available defense tactics, this is why professional help is a must. A good attorney will always find a way to shatter a prosecutor's claims, even though things might seem hopeless to you, do not hesitate to let pros defend you.