Enforcement of New York Drug Offenses

The enforcement of New York drug offenses are a major priority in the city. Drug offenses are prosecuted aggressively because drug use and distribution are issues that can affect both the well-being and safety, of the people of New York. If you are facing drug charges, then you should get in contact with a local drug attorney who will be equally vigilant in building your case and can protect your rights.

Laws are state-wide. Each jurisdiction handles the enforcement of New York drug offenses differently. For example, possession of cocaine may be less harsh in one area but more harsh in a different municipality. Dutchess County and Westchester County, the law enforcement and the DA's offices serving there, are going to be harsher on these crimes than, for example, in the Bronx, Brooklyn, or Manhattan. 

The enforcement of New York drug offenses is not treated differently because the law is different, but because where there is less crime the police and prosecutors have the ability to spend more time on prosecuting and investigating offenses that might not find the same scrutiny in New York City.

There are significant matters, what is called criminal possession of a controlled substance in the seventh degree that deals with Criminal Law 220.03 which occurs when a person possesses a controlled substance. It could be heroin, or it could be cocaine, or could be crack, or could be Ecstasy, Molly and all litanies of the drugs, Adderall, Oxycontin, any kind of opiate that a person possesses. 

People in a bar, or in a party, or going to a concert could put it in a sock and they are caught by a security guard or undercover police officers nearby. These crimes are seen with regularity.

In a city as large as New York, sometimes individuals think that their behavior will go unnoticed, even if they are violating the law. People forget how one mistake can alter the trajectory of their life. They might drink or do drugs in a semi-public setting, forgetting that despite the size and business of the city, law enforcement is still paying attention and they may still be prosecuted.

Law enforcement has been trying to crack down on base-level possession because New York possession is automatically a misdemeanor. If a person has, for example, five or ten milligrams of cocaine, that automatically gets bumped up to a felony. It is not that hard to do.

If a person had a child while selling, that gets bumped up to a felony. They are active in sometimes having and what we call buy-and-busts. Sometimes, it is search warrants. Sometimes, they have summons.

Sometimes, the police just sit on the street or they will be sitting in a taxi cab. They could be through phones, and they watch.  When a person buys it and possesses it, they arrest the person and go after that person for selling.

If the Rockefeller drug laws were notorious, they were not always prosecuted. The minimum was one to three years, and a felony if the person is convicted. It would be 25 years for a first-time offender which is very serious, with three to six years if a person sells it on school grounds.

The consequences for drug crimes, especially for sale, while it is changed, is automatic for mandatory prison. There is some wiggle room, but they are looking at various incidents of incarceration.

On the federal level, too, there are guidelines. The weight of drugs, when looking at significant times of incarceration, but a drug conviction can stick with a person and it is essentially a scarlet letter for the rest of the person's life and it is important to avoid that.

Because the police and the court systems take the enforcement of New York drug offenses so seriously, it is of the utmost importance that anyone facing drug charges, contact a skilled drug attorney. A capable drug lawyer can look at the facts of an individual’s case, and use that information to build a strong defense.