With the release of the proposed 2013 budget, the Obama administration also released its new drug control strategy. Although the Obama administration has given indications in the past that it’s going to take a more considerate and cost-effective approach to the old, expensive and ineffective War on Drugs, the new…
We have written several posts about state and federal law enforcement agencies focusing on what they call “pill mills” throughout Florida. We have represented many people in state and federal court who are charged with having some association with an illegal pain clinic ,or pill mill, in Florida or Georgia.…
In Jacksonville, Florida, we handle a lot of drug cases that arise from an arrest after a drug dog or K-9 alerts to the alleged odor of illegal drugs in a vehicle. In many of these cases, the police officer makes a routine traffic stop and then is suspicious that…
Despite statements that he intends to decrease the budget deficit and focus less on certain drug crimes, President Obama’s proposed 2013 budget actually increases funding for anti-drug initiatives. The war on drugs goes on with seemingly no consideration for its spiraling costs and ineffectiveness in reducing the number of people…
In Florida, most people understand that the police cannot search a person’s home for drugs or other evidence of criminal activity without a valid search warrant or consent from someone with authorization. This privacy right may also extend to a person’s front and back yards. While a police officer may…
In Florida, if the police conduct an illegal search of a person and find drugs or evidence of other criminal activity, that person can challenge the search and have the evidence thrown out if successful. However, what if the police conduct an illegal search of another person that detrimentally affects…
It is illegal in Florida to bring contraband into a jail or other detention facility. Normally, examples of contraband that bring about this criminal charge include drugs (legal or prescription), cigarettes and other tobacco products and weapons. If a person possesses contraband in, or brings contraband into, a county detention…
Over the last few years, we have seen how police in Florida have taken a much greater interest in so-called pain clinics, making a multitude of arrests of a wide range of people from the owners and doctors at the pain clinics to the people who use the prescription medication…
In Florida, in order to be charged with trafficking in marijuana, which typically carries much higher penalties than possession of marijuana, the quantity of marijuana has to be greater than 25 pounds. In a recent trafficking in marijuana case south of Jacksonville, Florida, after the defendant was arrested, the police…
In Florida, police often bring a drug dog to a traffic stop if they think there are drugs in the vehicle. The police are allowed to bring a drug dog to the scene of a traffic stop if they have reasonable suspicion to believe there are drugs in the vehicle…