We see far too many cases of people who get arrested for possessing substances that you wouldn't generally think are illegal.
If you're traveling with any kind of medication, whether it be your own or someone else's, you need to make sure that it's in the prescription bottle that it came in and that it's in
your name. For example, say you take several medications and combine them all into one pill bottle so you have a medication you've got a prescription for, and you've got several that you don't or are in the wrong prescription bottle. In that situation, you can get charged with the offense of possession of a dangerous drug or possession of a controlled substance because you don't have it in the prescription bottle that it came in.
The more common situation we see is that somebody has a medication that wasn't prescribed for them. For example, if your spouse takes some kind of sleeping medication such as Ambien, they give a pill to you to help you sleep, and you get stopped. The next thing you know, they're getting a call to bail them out of jail.
You may think that's extreme, but it happens far more often than you think. We've seen several cases that on their face appear to be completely ridiculous, where someone got arrested for having one pill for something minor that technically is an offense. So avoid the problem, don't travel with any kind of pills or any kind of medication that isn't your own, and if you do have medication, make sure it's in the prescription bottle that it came in. You don't want to find this out the hard way by getting arrested, having to post bond, and hiring a lawyer who will have to try to convince the district attorney to drop the charge or file a reduced charge.
This is one of those situations where it's essential to hire a lawyer and to do so immediately. An experienced drug crime attorney can present all the facts to the prosecutor before deciding how to proceed and try to avoid having the case filed at all or at least get a reduced charge.
If you are in this situation or have questions, please get in touch with us.
