Drugs

Why has Barack Obama, through Attorney General Holder, waited over four years after he was first elected to admit as much as Holder did yesterday (verbatim here, at the ABA conference) (which was not enough of an admission, as it stands) about the injustice of the...

Yesterday, a jury acquitted my client of possessing with intent to distribute eight pounds of marijuana found in the backseat of his car, after we had lost our suppression hearing and were without a successful way to create doubt that this was anything other than...

“What happens to federal student financial aid after a drug conviction?” That is a concern I often hear. Here is what I have to share: 20 U.S. Code § 1091 provides for temporary or permanent loss (depending on the circumstances) of federal student financial aid...

Image from public domain. Earlier this month, the Tenth Circuit gave the green light for parties to strike jurors for their drug reform views in criminal cases. U.S. v. Judah Prince, ___ F.3d ___ (10th Cir., Aug. 5, 2011). Prince was convicted for marijuana cultivation...

Image from public domain. LSD once was lawful earlier in the Sixties. Now it is not. K2/Spice remains lawful in the majority of states, but Virginia just added itself today to the list of states outlawing it. D.C. police have threatened crackdowns on K2/Spice stores. Although LSD...

This week, Virginia’s intermediate appellate court detailed the totality of circumstances to consider in determining whether probable cause exists to arrest and search for drugs, after witnessing a hand-to-hand transaction. Powell v. Virginia, ___ Va. App. ___ (Nov. 3, 2010). The court’s reasons for finding probable cause to search Powell are...

Virginia marijuana defendants in some Virginia District courtrooms constitute a parade of unrepresented people on their first court date. As a Fairfax criminal lawyer, I know that word has gotten out that if a marijuana possession defendant has no relevant prior convictions, s/he can save...

Although drug possession consists of knowledge, dominion and control over the drugs, that does not automatically prevent a person from being arrested, prosecuted and convicted for being in the knowing presence of drugs without having any other involvement with them. Last Friday, Maryland’s highest court,...

DEA image in the public domain. Can humans detect unburnt cocaine odor? The Maryland Court of Special Appeals said in 2003 it is “scientifically impossible that the confiscated drug could be detected because the cocaine seized and the caffeine with which it was cut had no detectible odor.”...

Last September, I blogged about efforts in the United States House of Representatives to eliminate bars to federal financial aid for simple drug possession convictions. My recent check on Congress’s Thomas website showed that the measure passed the House of Representatives and was referred to...