Prescription drugs are easy to come by, but unless they are actually prescribed by a doctor, a Florida resident could get into serious trouble with the law if he or she is caught illegally in possession of them. Some of the most common drugs that police look for are opioids like OxyContin, Vicodin or codeine. Anti-anxiety drugs, such Valium and Xanax, are also common in prescription drug possession cases
Prescription drug possession arrests often happen during a routine traffic stop. A police officer may suspect that a driver is inebriated and decide to search his or her automobile. If prescription drugs are found without a prescription, the driver could be arrested and accused of possession crimes. The severity of those accusations largely depends on how much of the drug was found.
Simple possession of just a few pills will not likely result in a jail sentence if the person is convicted of the crime. However, if hundreds of OxyContin pills are found, police may accuse an individual of prescription drug trafficking, which is a far more serious allegation. For example, if convicted of trafficking, individuals could be sent to prison for decades in the state of Florida.
The potential severity of the punishments related a prescription drug conviction means that individuals may want to take their criminal defense against such charges seriously. Some of the most common defenses for a prescription drug possession case might involve the claim that the defendant was not aware that his or her medication was considered a controlled substance. Alternatively, the defendant might present a valid prescription for the drug to the court. In other cases, entrapment could be a valid defense, meaning that the individuals was misled to commit the crime by dishonest law enforcement officers.
