Ocean City Prescription Drug Lawyer

Prescription drug offenses are becoming more prevalent in Ocean City, as they are throughout the state of Maryland. There has been a huge uptick in the number of people abusing prescription drugs leading to arrests and convictions. An Ocean City prescription drug lawyer can help an individual to defend themselves against charges that may be complicated. For example, they may have initially received their own prescription for the drugs and might have been taking them exactly as prescribed. But then they became addicted to it and they attempt to get their own prescriptions renewed or go to multiple doctors to get multiple prescriptions.

Prescription Drug Charges in Ocean City

There are many people who sell prescription drugs. They may have a valid prescription and they are selling their drugs on the street instead of taking them. It has also unfortunately led to a lot of theft. A prescription drug attorney in Ocean City can explain the complexity of multiple charges to their client and this can be necessary because the circumstances vary so much between cases. People sometimes steal another person’s prescription that they have in their home. Unfortunately, it is happening a lot and within families. It is not necessarily breaking into a stranger’s house, but going into a family member or a friend’s house because the defendant knows that person usually has a thirty or ninety-day supply of something and they want to steal it.

Law Enforcement Prioritization of These Charges

Prescription drugs are a huge priority for law enforcement officers because there are so many consequences to the abuse of these drugs. One of the scariest things happening now is that people purchase prescription drugs on the street, the drugs are very expensive. What they can get per pill is very expensive, which has led to a re-emergence of heroin, because producing heroin and distributing it is cheaper on the street now than buying a prescription pill off the street.

Heroin is such an addictive substance and the amount it takes for somebody to maintain a heroin habit leads to other sorts of crime such as theft and burglaries of any item that can be stolen and pawned for money which the person then uses to purchase heroin or trade in exchange for heroin. This has definitely led to an uptick in theft and burglaries with an increase in drug use for drugs like heroin. Because of the complexities involved in cases like these, an Ocean City prescription drug attorney who knows the court system can be extremely helpful to talk to.

It is a priority for law enforcement throughout the state because prescription pill abuse has led to an uptick of heroin use throughout the state. There’s not really any area that has avoided seeing this phenomenon, it’s happening everywhere.

Arrests for Legal Prescriptions

A person can be arrested for having a prescription drug when they do not have the prescription on their person. They must have some sort of bottle or indicator to prove that the medication was prescribed to them. People have been charged in Ocean City because they had their own prescription drug, but they did not have it in a prescription bottle and the officer didn’t believe that the person had a prescription for the drug.

They may very well be arrested for having it. If the person can bring proof of a valid prescription to court, that is helpful to show the prosecutor and hopefully get the charge dismissed. Unfortunately, that doesn’t mitigate the damage of being arrested and potentially losing a job or having to pay for an Ocean City prescription drug attorney to get all of these things straightened out.

Importance of an Ocean City Prescription Drug Lawyer

Having an Ocean City prescription drug attorney is very important in two ways. One is because there’s an entire slate of potential defenses that must be discussed with a client. Also, there is the issue of mitigation and perhaps putting together a very strong case to try and keep someone from serving jail or prison time for these offenses.

There could be defenses as to whether the person actually possessed a prescription drug that belonged to somebody else or they had a valid prescription for the drug. These are all issues that need to be discussed with the attorney to determine if there’s a possible defense to be raised. As far as mitigation, an attorney can help a client put together the information a judge needs to hear when trying to figure out what is an appropriate sentence. If someone is addicted, there must be a discussion about treatment and whether the person can get into treatment. Any judge would want to know how that was being addressed and an attorney can help with those issues as well.

Defending Prescription Pill Cases in Ocean City

It’s important for a person to realize that the police will charge them with illegal possession if they cannot produce evidence that they are allowed to have that drug. A huge number of people come to Ocean City on vacation and it’s important for people to understand that if they have a prescription, they really should be carrying it in the bottle itself. If they’re not, they need to have access to the bottle because they want to be able to show they are able to legally possess a drug found in their possession.

It’s very common for people when they’re going to be away from home they only take a few pills and don’t want to carry the entire bottle. Some people put medication in Ziploc baggies and put it in the everyday pill case. People can be charged with illegally possessing that drug because of how it was packaged. It’s important for people to understand the best way to travel with something like that is to have it in the actual bottle with a prescription label that identifies the medication and has their name on it.

Evidence in Ocean City Prescription Drug Cases

A prescription drug case, in some ways is investigated very similar to other drug cases because the state must prove what the medicine is and that the person did not have a lawful basis to possess the prescription drugs. Obviously, the best evidence or the best defense to that charge is if the person has a valid prescription.

With the help of an Ocean City prescription drug lawyer, the defense to that can be very simple if the person can produce evidence that they have a prescription for that drug. In some ways it’s different from a typical drug case where it’s very clear that the substance is illegal. For example, under no circumstances is it legal to possess crack cocaine. In a prescription drug case, there’s the possibility the defendant can produce evidence that they can legally possess the drug and that can be the difference between a conviction and being found not guilty.

Court Proceedings for Prescription Drug Cases

The courts treat the prescription drug cases the same as they treat any other type of drug case. They may, if anything, be treated a little bit harsher. The court makes a distinction between somebody who possesses their own prescription, but they just didn’t have the prescription with them at the time or they had an old prescription. That is one type of case that could come into the court and the court may treat that with a certain amount of leniency. That is very different from an individual who is now abusing prescription drugs and takes a large amount of drugs, not as directed. They are also more than likely getting prescription drugs from somebody other than their doctor.

In a situation like that, one of the main concerns of the court is treatment and trying to make sure the person is getting the help they need to deal with their addiction. In a case like this, the court would definitely be ordering the person to enroll in and complete a treatment program, and provide urine samples if that would be relevant.