Category Archives: Drug Crime
The Bill of Rights and Drug Trafficking Cases
James Madison, the Founding Father who spearheaded passage of the Bill of Rights, initially opposed them. In fact he called the proposals “parchment barriers” that provided no individual protections. Madison wasn’t wrong. For many years, the Bill of Rights was little more than a statement of purpose. The Supreme Court didn’t introduce the exclusionary… Read More »
Resolving a Drug Possession Case in Florida
The Sunshine State isn’t very sunny when it comes to drug possession penalties. These penalties, which include mandatory minimums in some cases, are among the harshest in the country. Some of these laws are leftovers from the 1980s get-tough-on-drugs era which followed the overdose death of basketball phenom Len Bias. More recently, many states… Read More »
Procedural, Substantive, And Affirmative Defenses In Drug Possession Matters
According to many people today, including many Hillsborough County jurors, drug possession is a health and safety issue as opposed to a criminal law issue. However, law enforcement doesn’t feel the same way. About 80 percent of drug arrests are for simple possession. These arrests feed the beast. Drug possession cases keep police officers… Read More »
The Three Ps Of Drug Possession
In the late 1980s, mostly in response to the drug overdose death of college basketball standout Len Bias, lawmakers approved a slew of harsh anti-drug laws. Extremely aggressive enforcement of these laws continued until the late 2000s. At that time, lawmakers began rolling back some of the harsh laws. Moreover, former President Barack Obama… Read More »
Search And Seizure Issues In Prescription Drug Possession Cases In Court
If you thought the War on Drugs was over, think again. This campaign is still going strong. The number of arrests has risen steadily since the 1990s, and about 80 percent of them are for simple possession. Although police are very aggressive in making arrests, as outlined below, these charges often don’s hold up… Read More »
The Three Ps Of Drug Possession Charges In Florida
If you thought the War on Drugs was over, think again. True, the harsh mandatory minimum prison sentences which lawmakers approved in the 1980s are largely gone. But Florida peace officers still make tens of thousands of drug arrests every year. 80 percent of them are for simple possession. In most cases, it is… Read More »
Most Common Search Warrant Exceptions
A bedrock principle of American law is that police officers must have a search warrant, or probable cause, before they seize contraband of any kind. Usually, peace officers only obtain search warrants in large, multi-agency investigations, like probes of drug trafficking rings. In everyday cases, most prosecutors use the probable cause loophole. The Supreme… Read More »
The Three Ps Of A Drug Possession Case
Large drug seizure cases often dominate the headlines, but simple drug possession cases usually dominate court dockets in Hillsborough County and nearby jurisdictions. This approach might be a little behind the times. Especially in the post-opioid crisis era, many jurors view drug possession matters as health and safety issues as opposed to criminal law… Read More »
Three Most Common Search Warrant Exceptions in Drug Possession Cases
If you think the War on Drugs is over, think again. Drug possession arrests have increased significantly since 2015. Simple possession accounts for almost 90 percent of the drug arrests in Florida. Typically, things happen so fast in these cases that police officers do not have search warrants. So, prosecutors must rely on a… Read More »
The Three Ps of a Drug Possession Charge
The War on Drugs perhaps saw its most surreal moment when Elvis met Nixon in the White House in December 1970. The King asked Nixon to make him an undercover marshal, because according to a letter he gave the President, Elvis had “done an in-depth study of drug abuse and Communist brainwashing techniques.” We… Read More »