USA - Need advice for friend busted with 70+ Oxycontin (USA)

[ParanoiaComes]

Well a few weeks ago my friend (18 years old) got busted with 70+ Oxycontin (not prescribed, not sure of the individual pill dosage) and he was selling them (intent to distribute) to feed his benzo addiction.

My questions are:

1. This has got to be a felony, right? (What class? Does it very from state to state or is this a federal charge in accordance with the Controlled Substances Act?)
2. What kind of time in jail is he looking at?

Any kind of information or tips would be much appreciated.

[julian]

It's definitely a felony. Swim can't tell you much more than that, sentencing will depend on the community, prosecutor, judge, etc. He could get sentenced to rehab or he could be sentenced to prison, it all depends on these factors. Chances are since he is 18 he will qualify for some kind of deferment program if he has a clean record. In swim's area there are a couple of different programs for first time felonies and first time drug offenses. One is called HYTA (Youthful Training Act) and the other is 74-11 (for first time felons). Each program gives the offender the ability to have the charges dropped upon completion of probation and possibly rehab. Tell your friend to get an attorney immediately and do not discuss details of the charge with ANYONE. Also it may look good if he immediately checks himself into rehab (if he isn't incarcerated). If he can show the court that he is a drug addict and trying to get sober, he is probably more likely to get a lighter sentence. The judge will like it if your friend takes it upon himself to check into rehab and clean himself up. It will show the judge that he has a desire to stop using drugs and change his life for the better.

Reputation Comments on this post:

Very good advice and very informative

[runitsthepolice]

This really depends on what state he's in but if they absolutely have him nailed on the distribution part he's going to have a rough time. Punishment could range from probation to possibly years of jail time. If he was simply caught in possession of oxycontin without a prescription he will probably be able to get in some kind of pretrial diversion program.

As stated it's definitely a felony

Advice: Get a good fucking lawyer.

[ParanoiaComes]

Thanks for the information guys! The thing is he literally got out of rehab a few months ago because of his Oxycontin addiction. Now I guess he's off the Oxy and was doing other pills. That fact alone is not gonna look good on his part at all. We do have "Drug Court" where I live that gives felony drug offenders a chance to clean their record if they complete the program. Maybe if he gets lucky he'll have that opportunity.

[Police Officer]

Originally Posted by ParanoiaComes

My questions are:

1. This has got to be a felony, right? (What class? Does it very from state to state or is this a federal charge in accordance with the Controlled Substances Act?)
2. What kind of time in jail is he looking at?

Yes, possession with the intent to deliver is a felony.
Possibly some shock time, like a week, month, 180 days.

Most likely with a clean or semi-clean record he will get probation.

Originally Posted by ParanoiaComes

We do have "Drug Court" where I live that gives felony drug offenders a chance to clean their record if they complete the program. Maybe if he gets lucky he'll have that opportunity.

Yeah. But, drug court is no joke. If you go in, you better be ready to be clean.

[AmphetuhMINE]

See the below post:

Originally Posted by AmphetuhMINE

I've been taking Adderall for many years. It's helped me get through college and law school. I have no qualms about its use in adults. Recently, I came across a case criminal case in which the defendant, a 17-year-old, was convicted of felony possession of a controlled substance. The controlled substance? You guessed it... Adderall.

The interesting (if not depressing) aspect about the case was that the defendant, a high school senior, actually had an Adderall prescription and had possession only of those pills which his doctor had prescribed to him (albeit a lot, he was caught with more than 700 15mg tablets). The drugs were discovered in his possession when a police officer pulled him over for a routine traffic stop and the defendant consented to a search of his vehicle. I repeat, he was convicted of a felony, which is the most serious of crimes (murder and rape are also felonies, for example). How could this happen?

There are a number of things which led to his conviction. Don't fall into a similar trap! Keep these things in mind:

COMMON MISCONCEPTIONS:

• If I have a prescription, I cannot get into any legal trouble for possessing the drug.
  • This is wrong on a number of levels. First, federal law prohibits unlicensed sale of any controlled substance. This obviously means that if you have a prescription and you're caught selling it to anyone (even someone else with the same prescription), you've committed a crime. Second, and probably most important, if you're carrying a prescription controlled substance, like Adderall, you must carry it in the bottle that the pharmacy provided you with. The bottle must have a label on it displaying your name, the drug, the dosage, the prescribers' name and some other minute details that aren't worth discussing. So, to be safe, carrying your drugs in the bottle you were originally provided with without altering the information on the label.
• Even if I'm caught with prescription drugs, I can't get in that much trouble - at least not as much as I would for possessing a non-prescription controlled substance like cocaine or heroin.
  • As we have just seen in the case of the 17-year-old victim of attention deficit disorder, this is just not true. Remeber, the defendant in that case was convicted of a FELONY - the worst crime you can commit. Most felonies carry mandatory prison sentences. Furthermore, once you've been convicted of a felony, you forever give up certain rights that you had before you were a felon (for example, you can never vote again or possession a firearm) and forfeit certain privileges that non-felons enjoy (felons cannot become professionals - doctors, lawyers, or even barbers - and can never serve as police officers or other law enforcement occupations). The idea that only what most people consider illicit drugs (cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine, etc.) can land you a felony conviction. Not true. Depending on the quantity you have on you, possession of even prescription controlled substances can lead to a felony conviction.

CONSENTING TO A POLICE SEARCH:
In most cases, if the police ask you for your permission to search your property, that means they legally do it without your consent. If you're absolutely sure you have nothing to hide, it's up to you whether you grant the officer's request. However, if you have anything that's illegal in your possession, or if you're unclear about it's legality, DO NOT GIVE YOUR CONSENT TO SEARCH. In the case of the 17-year-old Adderall user, it is unlikely that the police would have found the massive quantity of Adderall on the kid if he hadn't permitted them to search his vehicle and, if they found it without his consent, then it's even more unlikely that the evidence could have been used to prosecute him for a crime. The moral of this story is: when the cops are asking you to allow them to do something,the safest bet is to refuse their request. Maybe you have the butt-end of a joint (a roach) under your seat that's been there for 3 years and you had no idea it was there. If the police find it, you're liable for it.

Miscellaneous Considerations:
Although these considerations were not part of the case we've been discussing so far, you should still keep them in mind when using prescription drugs.

• Driving While Impaired: Did you think DWI only pertained to operating a motor vehicle while you were drunk on alcohol? If you did, you're wrong. Driving While Impaired (DWI) pertains to driving a motor vehicle while your senses are impaired by some external force that you knew or should have known would impair your ability to drive safely. Operating a car while you're under the influence of prescription drugs (most commonly painkillers and anti-anxiety medications) and even over-the-counter drugs (most commonly Benadryl) can lend you in jail just as quickly as 3 Long Island iced teas.
• Under the Influence of a Controlled Substance: This sounds like a very Orwellian crime, but it exists. The police can arrest you and the government can prosecute you for illegally being under the influence of a controlled substance. This means that if the police suspect you of being under the influence without justification, they can arrest you, draw blood from you, test your blood for the presence of controlled substances, and ultimately convict you of a crime. I haven't come across any cases where the controlled substance in question was a prescription drug, but that doesn't mean such cases don't exist or such prosecutions will not happen in the future.

That is all for now. Keep these things in mind and stay out of jail!

Reputation Comments on this post:

	Valuable information clearly outlined
	Yes indeed this is very valuable infromation to know

[rokman nash]

In the state of Tennessee possession/w intent carries a minimum sentence of 1 year per pill. Some mitigating factors that could change and/or alter this would be, prior record/arrests, how much the arrestee is willing to help the police, and any previous drug related activity.

It sounds like this young man will be put in the unenviable position of either ratting his sources out, or keeping quiet and doing some serious time.Either way there are no winners.

Good Luck

[NatiBoy]

There was a case similar to this around my area. Someone was caught with 35 80mg OC's. This person was known to be a distributor of narcotics and was being watched by the DEA. A warrant was given to search the persons house as a CI had informed the authorities that there would be a large quanity of marijuanna on that day.

THere was no marijuana found, but there were 35 Oc's in the safe. They were found and the client was scheduled to get 31+ years in jail. Now this never happened because apparently the warrant wasn't for the pills? Doesnt make any sense.....
At the time of his release, 50 other people were arrested for buying/having OC. Funny how that worked out.

Your friend, I'm sorry to say, is really in a bad spot considering he just left rehab and is right back at it. He would be wise to get a great lawyer and hope for a diversion. Maybe even a deal... Sorry to hear about your friend and i hope this helped.

[Vein_Banger]

Agree with NatiBoy and rokman nash, Im in Tennessee also, and this is very serious here. (Not worrying bout incrimination because ive served my sentence) I got caught with 47 norco 10's, and received a class-b felony which carries 8-12 yrs! But, i plead out to a lesser crime which was possession, not possession with intent, so they dropped it to a class-c and i got 6 yrs on community corrections! This was with Jack Lowry, the best criminal lawyer in the state! So, take this info with a grain of salt, i dont knopw where swiy is located but i'd definitely trying to better myself before my final sentencing court appearance, i.e. checking into a half-way house and completeing the program or even teen challenge which isnt just for teens, just another structured program! But good luck to your friend! -Brad

[jgarlopa]

Originally Posted by ParanoiaComes

Well a few weeks ago my friend (18 years old) got busted with 70+ Oxycontin (not prescribed, not sure of the individual pill dosage) and he was selling them (intent to distribute) to feed his benzo addiction.

My questions are:

1. This has got to be a felony, right? (What class? Does it very from state to state or is this a federal charge in accordance with the Controlled Substances Act?)
2. What kind of time in jail is he looking at?

Any kind of information or tips would be much appreciated.

Impossible to answer correctly without a little more info, but speaking from his own experience, Cowboy can tell you:

1. Simple possession is usually a misdemeanor in most cases. If possession is the only thing that can be proven, SWIM should keep his mouth shut. Even if the po-po's think he was selling them, the burden of proof is on them. As an addict, SWIM would probably know that 70 pills is a pretty common amount for personal use for an addict. Cowboy got caught with 93 ecstasy pills once and they never tried to accuse him of supplying because he was caught while he was alone and there were no witnesses.

2. Intent to supply IS a felony, though, but if it is his first time, he might be looking at only a couple months jail time, but will surely get probation for at least 3 years afterward, after which point he will no longer qualify for said "drug court" (called Prop. 36 in California) because he has a felony within the last 5 years. Tell SWIM to NEVER, EVER, EVER admit to intent to supply.

[I_8_my yellow crayon]

Swim was in this situation himself. Swim is from Canada, and he was caught with 4 24mg hydromorph contins(time released dilaudid). Swim's province has a minimum 1 year sentence for every non-prescribed scheduleII narcotic found on the offender. Swim went to rehab, all swim can tell you is he went to clear haven center in Quebec Canada. They have a website. He completed a 3 month, I believe it was actually 86 day program, and when he returned to court, he got community service. When someone gets caught with drugs like these now days, the judicial system knows there abuse potential, and in most cases its just the addiction. So if the offender blaims his crimes on the addiction, and then takes it upon himself to get clean, he will get much more respect and ease when he returns to court. Swim knows this, as his judge said "good for you son" but he still made swim understand what the consequences could have been, and what they will be next time if swim were to return with another conviction of the same type. Sadly it cost swim $28000 for his treatment program, and not all people have access to this amount of money, but there are cheaper programs out there. But your friend must take action, and show the court system that he has done something for himself. Judges will unleash all of hell upon addicts who repeatedly commit crimes, but will try to help save someone who is trying to save themselves. Swiy didn't specifye wheather they remanded his friend or not. If they didn't and he can afford it, he should go take whatever help he can afford. Swim himself was far more inclined to pay $28000 for rehab, then spend 3-4 years in jail. He spent easily this per year on his habit anyways.

I_8_my yellow crayon added 1 Minutes and 50 Seconds later...

Swim also wants to add that he recieved three years probation and 120 hours of community service. Sorry, swim doesn't know how to edit his own posts.

Reputation Comments on this post:

Supportive and sound advice.

[rockindtown]

yeah a good lawyer is definitely the key. swim has a friend that had was a habitual drug user and kleptomaniac. he had a long string of juvenile possession, trespassing, etc charges and was on probation for misdemeanor larceny when he was arrested on 2 counts of felony B&E as well as 2 other felony charges (i don't remember what they were). anyways his lawyer got him into pretrial diversion which would have meant a clean slate if he had gotten through the program. but the dumbass got caught stealing a month later, tested positive for coke, and got sentenced to something like 4.5 years, he only ended up doing 1 though.

there's only so much a lawyer can do.