Paraphernalia Possession
What is Drug Paraphernalia?
- Certain drugs requires tools in order to take them. This would include or could include a pipe, needles, a spoon, heating elements or anything else the police suspect helps you take a drug. When you are in possession of the paraphernalia and not the drug, you can still have charges filed against you. The charges can also be combined with other drug offenses, such as drug trafficking, drug possession or even drug distribution.
I didn’t know I had drug paraphernalia on me?
- What if you didn’t know you had paraphernalia in your car or your home because someone else put it there? You might still be in trouble. Just as the owners of a house where people are growing pot are liable, you might be liable because of the products in your vicinity. Be careful who you choose to hang out and live with and that you trust them. They could place an item in your vicinity that could land you jail time, penalties and even a record without you having any knowledge of the drug or what was going on.
- Most often, people will know there is paraphernalia in the vehicle or house. The paraphernalia is used with certain types of drugs and will only be present when those drugs regularly come in to a location. For example, there would only be papers to roll marijuana when it comes through the house often. Police might also look at the amount of wrappers in the house and determine if drug trafficking is going on or if there is intent to distribute the drugs to other people. A high quantity of the paraphernalia might get a person higher and other charges when it comes to intent.
Paraphernalia, scales, bags, etc?
- Other items that are considered drug paraphernalia include scales, bags and calculators. Scales mean that there are people weighing out the drugs for a specific weight for a specific amount of money. This means there is drug distribution going on for at least one type of drug. If the police cannot find the drug, then they can either assume which one is being distributed or is in the process of being shipped to the location. Sometimes the drug paraphernalia charges are all a person gets when there are no other drugs on the premises.
For people who are caught with the paraphernalia in their car or who appear to use it for their own use, the charges might be lighter. There will still be penalties involved and probable drug time, but the amount of time and the fee will be lower than if you were to find piles of it in a house.
No matter what type of drug paraphernalia charges you are up against, it is best not to go it alone. Hiring an attorney is the best way to get the charges dropped if they were unfair to you or if you were an innocent party to the crimes. Good things can happen to bad people, so you want representation to make sure that you do not sit in jail for paraphernalia you did not do or even realized you had.
