Drug Crimes and Addiction

Crimes are often committed because of drug or alcohol addiction. The courts will often take into account what a person does to deal with that issue in deciding what the appropriate punishment is. If you have a son or daughter that is charged with a crime and is addicted to drugs or alcohol, we can help. With our experience and training, we work with the best people and treatment programs to get your son or daughter the help they need to get them off drugs or alcohol. This also puts us in a position to get a great result in court. Many times charges that could result in 3 or more years of prison, we are able to do things in a manner where your son or daughter gets the treatment they need and they don’t spend any time in prison. If they’re eligible, they can even have the case dismissed at the end of the treatment and there is no conviction on their record whatsoever.

Drug crimes include possession of drugs for personal use, being under the influence of drugs, possession of drug paraphernalia, manufacturing drugs, possession drugs for sale, transportation of drugs for sale, cultivation of marijuana, meth labs, interstate transportation of drugs.

For certain types of drug offenses, there are programs that allow a person to have a conviction expunged, dismissed, or for certain crimes, result in no conviction at all. The state programs that allow for this are Prop 36 and PC 1000. In addition, counties have specific drug programs and courts that allow for drug diversion in lieu of jail or prison time.

Federal Drug Crimes

If you or a family member are charged with a drug crime in federal court, the potential punishments can be staggering. They can range from a minimum of 10 years in prison to life in prison. Defending these cases is difficult, complex, and detailed. You need an attorney that knows how to defend these cases in federal court.

Did you know the mandatory minimums can sometimes be set aside? Your attorney needs to know how to avoid statutory minimums. For instance, a client looking at a minimum of 10 years in prison may be eligible to have that minimum waived and may be eligible for a sentence as low as 3-4 years, if convicted.

Many defenses are available in a federal drug case. There are Fourth Amendment issues that could result in a case being entirely dismissed. There are also defenses available if the trial goes to court. Both during and after, there are a number of things we can do to reduce the time spent in federal prison.

In addition to all of that, even if a person is convicted of a federal drug crime and goes to prison, it is as important how that person does their time as how much time they do. We understand the federal prison system and we know how to do things that can shorten the time, make the time more bearable, and that can result in the best possible long term outcome in a case.