Category Archives: Drug Offenses
Ketamine Chic And Other Bogus Reasons To Send In The Drug-Sniffing Dogs
Imagine if, during a trial in a drug possession case, a police officer who had arrested the defendant during the incident that led to the charges told the jury that he or she conducted the traffic stop because of a broken taillight or expired tags but then decided to search the vehicle for drugs… Read More »
The Field Test Said That The Drug Mixture In Your Car Contained What?
The field tests that police use at traffic stops are notoriously subjective and unreliable. A 20-year-old gymnast can successfully walk an imaginary tight rope whether she is sober or drunk, but a 60-year-old who takes blood pressure medication would have trouble with that task, even if she hasn’t consumed a drop of alcohol in… Read More »
Are You Eligible For Drug Court In Palm Beach County?
Evidence that addiction is not something you can punish out of existence is everywhere in South Florida. In 2019, Colton Wooten, who moved to Florida several years earlier to enter an addiction facility, described his experiences with the Florida Shuffle, where people just out of inpatient rehab soon find their way to relapses and… Read More »
HB 95 Introduces New Rules About Fentanyl
Fentanyl, a synthetic opioid approximately 100 times as strong as morphine and 50 times as strong as heroin, causes more drug overdose deaths than any other controlled substance. It was originally intended for pain management in cancer patients and in emergency situations where injured patients are being transported to hospitals for treatment. Most of… Read More »
What Are The Different Schedules Of Controlled Substances?
When you read news reports about criminal cases involving drugs, you sometimes see the phrases “illegal drugs” and “controlled substances” used interchangeably. In fact, “controlled substances” just means that the drug is illegal at least some of the time. Some controlled substances are legal in some contexts. The Controlled Substances Act, a federal law… Read More »
Frenchman’s Drug Dealing Empire Collapsed When He Traveled To Miami For Beard Contest
The Internet has always been a place where weirdos go to be weird, often with the help of pseudonyms, but the nature of that weirdness has changed over the years. In the old days, people turned to bulletin board systems and online chat rooms to nerd out with friends in other time zones about… Read More »
Everything You Say On Instagram Can And Will Be Used Against You?
For much of the past decade, the laid-back sounds of summer in South Florida and throughout the Sun Belt were brought to you by lean, also known as sizzurp and purple drank, a candy-colored concoction of promethazine-codeine syrup and everything colorful and sweet you could ever think to mix with it, usually Sprite and… Read More »
The First Step Act Fails to Provide the Relief It Promised to Drug Offenders Serving Unfair, Lengthy Sentences
Many had high hopes for the First Step Act, which promised to slash sentences for a number of nonviolent drug offenders. Perhaps most importantly, it would also retroactively apply the 2010 Fair Sentencing Act to those who had been unfairly punished in terms of sentencing for crack cocaine offenses prior to 2010. And, for… Read More »
Fall 2019 Marijuana-Related Criminal Legislation Introduced in Florida
We previously discussed legislation introduced in Florida to decriminalize the possession of certain amounts of marijuana without the need to first obtain a license for medical marijuana. Florida has, indeed, experienced a number of changes recently that affect the prosecution of marijuana crimes; the most notable being hemp being removed from the list of… Read More »
Florida May Be On the Verge of Changing How It Treats Drug Offenses & Sentencing
In November, the Florida Senate Criminal Justice Committee approved legislation that would alter how drug offenses are treated in Florida. Specifically, it would provide judges with more deference in straying from mandatory minimum sentencing requirements for individuals charged with drug dealing if they did not use a firearm in the commission of an offense,… Read More »
