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Have you ever wondered about what to do if you get falsely accused of drug trafficking? Here is everything you should know about your rights and drug possession cases.
Understanding Legal and Illegal Possession of Drugs
When it comes to drug trafficking cases, you should know that these are drug possession cases. Typically, the formal charge that you might receive for trafficking drugs in your state would be the charge of possessing drugs with the intention of distribution.
Normally, it is illegal to possess drugs without a prescription if the drugs are considered dangerous and are listed in the state’s statutes. Depending on how dangerous the drugs are, your state will have them categorized in different schedules.
Keep A Valid Prescription with You
If you don’t have a valid prescription that allows you to possess the drugs that are scheduled by your state – then it would put you in illegal possession of drugs. Obviously, if you have a valid prescription, you are in compliance with the law, as you can possess the drugs. This aspect puts you in the legal possession of drugs.
Now, what typically happens is that you might give a prescribed drug to a friend, which could lead to charges or distribution of drugs. On the other hand, your friend could be charged with illegal possession of drugs.
Understanding the Different Types of Drug Possession
Suppose you are charged with the charges of drug trafficking. In this case, it is in your best interest to get in touch with an attorney who exclusively deals with drug trafficking charges.
For instance, if you are in Michigan and you get charged with drug trafficking, you might want to get in touch with a Michigan Drug Trafficking Lawyer, who will help you get those charges dismissed. The lawyer will also walk you through the basics that you should know to understand the charges and what the next steps would be to get you dismissed.
Drug trafficking charges cannot occur without some sort of drug possession, which is why you might want to know about the different types of drug possession out there, such as the following:
- Actual possession
- Joint possession
- Constructive possession
These are legal terms that you will see in court settings; still, it is important for you to understand what these different legal terms imply.
Actual Drug Possession
You can hear the term of actual drug possession if the drugs were on you in person. This aspect indicates that you had the drugs in your pockets, cigarette packs, or in your hand. Typically, actual drug possession is one of the easiest scenarios for police and prosecutors to prove the possession of drugs.
When there is actual drug possession, getting the drug trafficking charges dismissed can be an incredible challenge to your lawyer. Now, you could argue that your friend or sibling placed the drugs in your pocket when the police pulled up. In this case, you can argue that you didn’t intentionally possess the drugs on you in person.
It is up to the jury to decide whether or not these arguments can hold up. Also, the more experienced your lawyer is in dealing with such cases, they can increase the chances of getting the case dismissed.
Joint Drug Possession
You might be confused about the concept of joint possession of drugs. In simple terms, joint possession means that the drugs can be possessed by more than one person. This is a theory that the prosecutor might imply while trying to get you or multiple people convicted.
For instance, you find yourself in a situation where you are in a car with other people. The police pull over your car, and they find a bag with drugs in the backseat of the car. Now, no one of the passengers in the car claims ownership to the police officers, which leads to everyone’s arrest.
In this scenario, the prosecutor will likely charge all people who were in the car with possession of the drugs as joint possession. They might imply that everyone who was traveling in the car went together to buy the drugs, which is why everyone has ownership rights to the drugs.
Unless there are some other facts that the defendants can represent to prove that one of the defendants didn’t have ownership in this drug possession, it will be challenging to get the drug trafficking charges dismissed.
Now, if you are in such a situation, hire an experienced lawyer, who can then prove to the jury that you were just a passenger who was riding in the car and didn’t have any knowledge or control over the drugs, as this is a good way to get the drug possession charges dismissed.
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Constructive Drug Possession
Another form of drug possession that you should know about is constructive drug possession. This aspect refers to a scenario where the drugs aren’t on you in person – but the police and the prosecutors still believe that they have sufficient proof that you possessed the drugs.
This aspect refers to constructive drug trafficking charges, which are more common than you might think. For instance, if you and your friend are in the same car and your friend has a bag of cocaine in the backseat – the prosecutor might try to prove to the jury that this is a case of constructive drug possession.
In this case, the prosecutor will be asking the jury to assume that both of you were in possession of the drugs since the drugs were in the car.
Don’t Allow for the Violation of Your Rights
If you find yourself accused of drug trafficking, the best thing you can do is to get in touch with a lawyer. The lawyer can prove to the jury that the police officers have indeed violated your constitutional rights by conducting an illegal stop or search.
Police must have reasonable suspicion to believe that a driver has committed a traffic violation or crime before pulling them over. Once the car is stopped, police need probable cause to search the vehicle, meaning they must have a strong reason to believe that evidence of a crime or illegal items are inside the car. If the stop or search is conducted without proper legal grounds, it is considered unlawful. As a result, under the exclusionary rule, any evidence obtained after the unlawful stop or search can be dismissed in court, though this may require legal proceedings to determine.
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