Author Archives: Jay Butchko
Drug Possession Means Even Bigger Legal Trouble When Children Are Present
Drug courts and criminal laws have begun to move away from the rhetoric of the War on Drugs and to treat the criminal offense of drug possession as a symptom of substance use disorder. The crime has no victims except the defendant; if you illegally possess controlled substances, you are not endangering anyone except… Read More »
Researchers Are Working On A Fentanyl Vaccine
Hope and fear emerge from the most unexpected places in the opioid epidemic. When pill mills replaced street corner heroin as the scariest source of opioids, who knew that heroin would make a comeback? Fentanyl is a terrifyingly efficient killer, but naloxone is equally efficient at saving lives. After policymakers argued for decades about… Read More »
Why Do Police Drop Charges In Drug Cases?
You may have heard the scary statistic that 90 percent of defendants in criminal cases plead guilty, but that does not mean that, if you get arrested on suspicion of a drug crime, the chances that you will emerge from the incident without a criminal record are less than ten percent. This figure does… Read More »
Driver’s License Suspension And Florida Drug Possession Cases
A criminal charge for drug possession is far from the worst-case scenario when it comes to drug offenses. When you first contact a criminal defense lawyer, he or she might be relieved to find out that the charges are just simple possession instead of something worse, such as drug trafficking or possession with intent… Read More »
Does The Federal Cannabis Possession Pardon Signal A New Era For Federal Cannabis Laws?
Cannabis is illegal in Florida except when it isn’t. Florida has yet to decriminalize cannabis possession at the state level, but the number of cities that treat possession of small amounts of cannabis as a civil infraction instead of a crime is growing by the year. Meanwhile, it is legal to possess small quantities… Read More »
Are Super Mushrooms Legal?
Almost everyone has seen an artistic depiction of an Amanita muscaria mushroom. Its tall stalk and bright red cap with white spots and white gills look like something straight out of folklore or an artist’s imagination. Children of the 1980s watched Mario and Luigi gain superpowers by eating these fungi in the Super Mario… Read More »
Inchoate Offenses In Drug Cases
The legal term “inchoate offense” refers to criminal offenses where the defendant was preparing for or in the early stages of another crime, known as the target offense, but got caught before the crime could reach the stage where it could cause physical or financial harm to victims. The word “inchoate” comes from a… Read More »
Tianeptine, Also Known As Gas Station Heroin
The difference between an over-the-counter supplement, a prescription medication, and a street drug has more to do with where the substance is available than how it affects the body. In the 19th century, you could walk into any pharmacy and buy cough syrup in which the main ingredient was opium, but now cough syrup… Read More »
The Fifth Amendment And Drug Cases
When police officers recite the Miranda warnings when arresting someone that they suspect of committing a crime, they tell the defendant that he or she has the right to remain silent. In that situation, the purpose is to let defendants know that they have the right to consult with a lawyer before answering questions… Read More »
Can You Get Criminal Charges If You Tell A Doctor The Truth About Your Drug Use?
Drugs can kill, but sometimes enforcement of drug laws makes the situation worse instead of better. Anyone’s chances of surviving a drug overdose or adverse reaction to a drug, legal or illegal, are better the sooner they seek medical attention. Many overdose deaths could have been prevented if people who were present when they… Read More »
