Drug sales and possession charges are prevalent in this country when it comes to felonious charges. While one might think that anything to do with the topic of illegal drugs should be uncomplicated as regards the processing, conviction, and punishment of said crimes; it is most often much more so than one would think. This presence of this difficulty depends on a variety of legal variables such as the intent and nature of the drug offense, the types of charges present, and also situational factors according to the particular offense. In this article, we seek to analyze all of these factors of drug sales/possession charges, to best prepare you for an informed criminal records search.
Drug sales/possession charges are a twofold criminal offense, with one or both of these variables being present at the time of the criminal activity. Drug possession is defined “as the condition of having or being in control of any controlled substance or unauthorized prescription medications”, with good examples of said substances being: marijuana, LSD, methamphetamines, cocaine, etc. The possession of an illegal drug necessarily affects the intent in relation to the potential criminal involved. Depending on how much drug the offender is caught with will determine what sort of charges a person may be charged with. It is also necessary to note that the finding of certain drug related paraphernalia also affects a charge of sales and possession, such as scales, vials, etc.
As is true of most crimes in the legal system in this country, each state is afforded their own interpretations of what constitutes drug possession and/or intent to sell. Depending on the following five variables, each state determines what is a misdemeanor or a felony intent to distribute: the quantity of drug, where the drug is located, how the drug is stored, if there is a large amount of money involved, and if there are any other contributing means of criminal proof, such as drug scales etc. While there is no standard that every state uses to determine across the board in relation to punishment, it is always a constant that the intent to distribute a drug is a lot more serious an offense than just being in ownership a drug for personal use.
When evaluating simple charges from intent to sell as regards drug crimes, the legal system generally examines the crime according to even more custom specifics. Again, each state determines what aspects of the criminal nature involved with drug offenses to give the most weight to in evaluation and subsequent punishment. The first of these criteria regarding drug offenses is what type of drug the defendant may be caught with. The punishments for drugs that are more harmful to anyone using them will necessarily be more serious than those that are less harmful, in both the case of distribution and simple charges. Second, courts consider if there were any prior convictions for drug custody in the criminal record of the defendant being charged, and whether these charges included intent to sell. Third, if there is any evidence that points to the possible intent to sell to minors, the defendant will necessarily be given much more severe criminal sentencing.