Author Archives: Jay Butchko
DeLand Couple Arrested for Injecting Opioids While Toddler Was in the Car with Them
Sometimes getting arrested for drug possession can be the first step toward a life of sobriety. Some people look back on their drug possession arrest as the day that saved their lives. Whether things get better or worse after the police catch you with drugs depends on many factors. The best-case scenario is for… Read More »
Consequences of the COVID-19 Pandemic: Fewer Prison Sentences for Drug Offenses, but More Arrests for Possession with Intent to Deliver?
As the number of cases of COVID-19 steadily increases in Florida and every other state, and as an increasing number of famous people report their experiences with the disease, it is obvious that the coronavirus is changing our everyday lives in ways we never could have expected. Its long-term effects on laws and policies… Read More »
Theft of a Controlled Substance Is Always a Felony, Even If You Only Steal One Pill
When schools caution children against drug abuse and addiction, they often talk about illegal drugs, but as any doctor who has treated patients with substance use disorder knows, people are just as likely to misuse drugs that it is legal for doctors to prescribe. Some prescription drugs are notorious as street drugs that happen… Read More »
The Trouble with Benzodiazepines
At first glance, benzodiazepines do not seem like the most dangerous drugs. The most well-known ones are Valium (diazepam) and Xanax (alprazolam), which seem harmless enough. They are not the most illegal of illegal drugs; they are Schedule IV controlled substances, which means they are in the same category of legality as prescription sleep… Read More »
How Will the Coronavirus Pandemic Affect Your Drug Case?
Florida is one of the hardest-hit states by the COVID-19 pandemic. Although spring break merrymakers hesitated to leave Florida’s beaches, and the vendors whose bread and butter depends on tourism were sad to see them go, Florida has joined other states in realizing that it will take more to slow the spread of the… Read More »
Ketamine Has Many Accepted Medical Uses, but You Can Still Get a Felony Case for Possessing It
In the last few years, scientific journals and news outlets have published reports about promising trials in which substances primarily regarded as recreational drugs offered greater relief and fewer side effects to patients with mental illnesses than conventional psychiatric drugs. Going back at least to the heyday of the counterculture in the 1960s, people… Read More »
Is Ayahuasca Legal in Florida?
Ayahuasca is an entheogenic drink made by brewing the vines of the Banisteriopsis caapi plant with ingredients from the Psychotria viridis plant. It has been a part of religious ceremonies among indigenous peoples in the Andes mountains of South America for centuries. Like other naturally occurring entheogens such as peyote, psilocybin mushrooms, and Salvia… Read More »
Will Legal Recreational Weed in Florida Become a Reality in 2020?
Celebrities do it. Baby boomers do it. Young people do it. Nature lovers do it. Slackers do it. Spiritual seekers do it. Florida’s cultural landscape is so diverse that there is no single “typical Floridian,” but one thing many denizens of our sunshine swing state can agree on is a love of cannabis and… Read More »
Vero Beach Man Charged with Selling Cocaine and Methamphetamine
The idea that you are not hurting anyone else by possessing drugs is gaining support. While the prison population still includes people serving long sentences for possessing a single dose of an illegal drug, there is a growing sentiment that this is unfair. Laws in the United States are still quite far from the… Read More »
Three People Arrested on Drug Charges After Osceola County Traffic Stop
An increasing number of Florida counties will let you get away with just a citation if they catch you in possession of a small amount of marijuana, and some of these cities are in the Orlando area. If you have more than two ounces of weed, though, or if it is another drug, you… Read More »
